Cop in Vancouver poses as free daily reporter

Dean Broughton, editor of Vancouver's "24 Hours" free daily, is filing a complaint with British Columbia police after a plainclothes officer posed as a reporter for his newspaper in order to arrest a protester who planned to demonstrate outside an Olympics organizing meeting, according to the New York Times.

“Developing sources will be more difficult now. There will be a thought that we’re working with the police,” Broughton said. “We’re two years old, and when you’re in the free daily world you have to work extra hard to establish your credibility.” He added, “You have to wonder if the police would do this to a bigger player.”

Police in that area have done this before. In 2005, another police force in British Columbia posed as a crew from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to trap an escaped convict.