SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Local, state, and federal law enforcement officers who cover their faces while conducting official business could face a misdemeanor charge in California under a new proposal announced Monday.
If approved, the bill would require all law enforcement officials to show their faces and be identifiable by their uniform, which should carry their name or other identifier. It would not apply to the National Guard or other troops and it would exempt SWAT teams and officers responding to natural disasters.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat representing San Francisco, and State Sen. Jesse Arreguin, a Democrat representing Berkeley and Oakland, said the proposal seeks to boost transparency and public trust in law enforcement. It also looks to protect against people trying to impersonate law enforcement, they said.
“We are seeing more and more law enforcement officers, particularly at the federal level, covering their faces entirely, not identifying themselves at all and, at times, even wearing army fatigues where we can’t tell if these are law enforcement officers or a vigilante militia,” Wiener said.
“They are grabbing people off our streets and disappearing people, and it’s terrifying,” he added.
In Los Angeles, a series of immigration raids June 6 by federal officers, some with face coverings, triggered days of turbulent protests across the city and beyond and led President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops and Marines to the LA area. More than 100 people were detained during those raids and immigrant advocates say they have not been able to contact them.
The state senators said that in recent months, federal officers have conducted raids while covering their faces, and at times their badges and names, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Concord, Downey and Montebello.
“Law enforcement officers are public servants and people should be able to see their faces, see who they are, know who they are. Otherwise, there is no transparency and no accountability,” Wiener said.
Videos of raids showing masked officers using unmarked vehicles and grabbing people off the streets have circulated on social media in recent weeks.
Ed Obayashi, a special prosecutor in California and an expert on national and state police practices, said the proposed legislation would be tough to enforce because federal officers can’t be prosecuted by state courts for activities performed during their official duties.
“If they are following federal directives, they are following federal law,” Obayashi said.
He said that when it comes to local and state officers, they are already required by law to have identifiable information and department insignia on their uniforms.
Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director, has defended his officers using facemasks, saying they wear them to protect themselves from death threats and online harassment.
“I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” he said at a news conference earlier this month in Boston to announce nearly 1,500 arrests in the region as part of a monthlong “surge operation.”
