[robin21]

> Do cops think there are thugs cloaking themselves in fake press gear ?

Yes. Everyone has phones now. Everyone can claim they are press or they have a YouTube channel. These people don’t wear press gear.

A lot of the time the police are not suspecting press and they get more access so people claiming they are press are more of a threat, which is why they must verify.

Say you are trying to light a fire in a police station or break a barricade. Should police allow you to loiter and go wherever you want rather than stay with the crowd?

If you think it through you will realize that unless identification is done it creates immense risk.

Journalists will always complain on an individual level, but police are working on reducing threat level and maintaining order of a wider context.