Newspaper not police source

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The Yellowknife RCMP - like their cousins in Saskatchewan - are also stepping out of line this month.

They recently raided the offices of the Press Independent, a newspaper serving the Western Arctic, to seize photographs taken during a fight between striking miners and riot police.

One has to wonder why.

If 60 cops, many fitted in full riot gear, alongside a force of security guards can't muster a camera and a body to shoot their own pictures, something must be wrong. That they have to use legal force to get a reporter to do the job then is enraging.

Reports can not be expected to tell sensitive stories in an accurate and balanced manner if sources for police can help themselves to unpublished notes and photographs.

Nor can small newspaper like the Press Independent afford the legal fees to defend themselves against well-financed groups like the RCMP, should they want to fight the seizure in court.

Reporters don't work for the police. And police shouldn't feel free to take material from media organizations unless the circumstances are extreme.

There are more than 100 eyewitnesses to the events in question. The mining company and security are said to have their own videotapes, giving the Yellowknife RCMP plenty of sources.

If they screwed up and didn't get their own pictures, they shouldn't expect the Press to cover for them. Photos should be returned, with a full apology.