Some of those on the front line were identified Wednesday as Special Operations Response Teams from the Bureau of Prisons, trained especially to handle inmate riots. No word on how much training they have received on handling protests outside prisons. Some Washington, D.C. metro police officers reportedly have taped over their badge numbers, a practice outlawed in some locales because of widespread abuses in the 1960s.
Ryan J. Reilly and Tara Golshan at HuffPo report that Michael Bromwich, the former inspector general of the Justice Department who oversaw internal investigations, said when federal law enforcement officers conceal their identities: “It completely undermines the ability to hold law enforcement personnel who engage in misconduct accountable. You’ve got to know who they are, and certainly which agency they represent.”
In a 2014 letter to Ferguson, Missouri police chief Thomas Jackson, Department of Justice official Christy Lopez wrote:
Officers wearing name plates while in uniform is a basic component of transparency and accountability. It is a near-universal requirement of sound policing practices and required under some state laws. Allowing officers to remain anonymous when they interact with the public contributes to mistrust and undermines accountability. The failure to wear name plates conveys a message to community members that, through anonymity, officers may seek to act with impunity. Further, the lack of name plates makes it difficult or impossible for members of the public to identify officers if they engage in misconduct, or for police departments to hold them accountable.
Some Democrats are vowing to stop this practice:
In addition, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C. and Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia are drafting legislation mandating that all uniformed federal law enforcement officers clearly show their names and agencies when on duty at protests protected by the First Amendment. That wouldn’t affect the National Guard or undercover officers. Beyer told the HuffPo reporters: “When you can’t tell who people are, then there is no accountability at all. You can go out and bust any heads you want to because who is going to hold you accountable if you are anonymous—especially with the big face masks.”
Comments are closed on this story.