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I watched the past two disturbing videos and saw the purpose of federal authorities acting with a horrific ignorance of decency and democracy when arresting immigrants.
At least I think they are federal authorities. But who knows these days?
Police officers who are allegedly detaining hundreds, if not hundreds, if not hundreds, of people every day in California and across the country are often hidden. They sometimes refuse to answer questions that include the institutions they represent. They threaten the power when they are challenged, and even use it to arrest bystanders.
In the first video I saw, an unmarked car man detains another man sitting on a bus bench in Pasadena. The man, presumed to be a federal agent, has a vest that says “the police” and a cheap black ski mask covering every part of his face. Some of his colleagues are in the background, but some seem to be masked at first glance.
If these men approach me, or if one of my children dressed like that, I run. I’ll fight. I would certainly not have received his words that he was the “police” and had the right to push me into his car.
In the second video, another presumed federal agent jumps out of his unmarked vehicle and draws a weapon on a civilian trying to take a photo of the license plate.
Yes – he points his gun at a civilian who has not threatened him or committed a crime. People, you may think that maybe you’re a legitimate police operation or that it’s a bad idea to try and film something that might not be, but that’s not illegal. The suspect simply didn’t like what was going on and threatened to shoot someone who was upsetting him. The man taking the photo ran away, but what would have happened if not?
These actions by the alleged authorities are examples of immunity and are what happens when accountability is lost.
“It’s a law enforcement agency and it’s scary to be attacked by people if you can’t seem to hide your identity from you,” David Sklanski told me. He is a law professor at Stanford University and a police expert. He said that secrets by authorities can sometimes be justified, but that should be an exception rather than a rule.
“The seizure of people by state agents that do not identify national agents as state agents is a tool with a long, ugly history used by authoritarian regimes,” he said.
ICE argues that its officers have a need and right to remain anonymous as the threat and attacks against them have increased dramatically. The agency has advertised that staff members have increased 413% assaults against them, and that they and their families are doxxed.
Speaking about the New York Times podcast “The Daily,” Tom Homan, President Trump’s top border policy advisor, said his executives are doing their best in difficult circumstances.
“That’s not about blackmail,” Homan said. “Ice Officers are doxxed by thousands, so they wear masks. Their family is doxxed. Photos of the Ice Officers have appeared on trees and electric poles. The threat of death is empty.
you know what? I think the Ice Officer is being threatened by Dox.
Violent attacks against law enforcement should be condemned.
And while we do that, I have no problem deporting dangerous criminals. Today I exclude the question of whether Trump’s aggressive will to expel people is good or bad. This is not about what is happening with these deportations, nor about how the authorities are wielding their powers.
Threatening law enforcement officers is a crime. Doxxing is a crime. These agencies have the resources to track, arrest and prosecute those who break those laws. They should definitely do that.
Instead, federal authorities are hidden and apparently are scared of online provocates and in-person Hecklers, not fulfilling their obligations.
However, the judges are doxxed and are not wearing masks. The journalist is doxxed and does not wear a mask. Politicians have been doxxed and even killed, but still have publicly-exposed work. Which raises the question: Isn’t it really about blackmail?
“Frankly, I had a lot of guns pointed at me. I felt a lot of threats to my life,” said say throughout Diane Goldstein. “I never wore a mask because I was afraid.”
Goldstein is the executive director of Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit organization made up of justice system authorities that advocate for better policies. She was also the first female aide at the Redondo Beach Police Station and worked for over 20 years, including undercover investigations.
She points out that accountability requires an individual to have some way of attaching their actions. Take the officer with the gun drawn to the license plate photographer.
“If one of my officers had done that, I would have put him on administrative leave, taken his gun and started an internal affairs investigation,” she said. “There is no constitutional reason for him to jump out of his car and point his gun at a regular citizen in that type of offensive way.”
But if he sees a threat justifying a deadly force, and if he sees what he is thinking, we probably won’t be able to ask the officer what – because there is no easy way to identify him. Forget who he is personally, we don’t even know what kind of agency he is.
“I don’t know if it’s the FBI, if it’s DEA, if it’s ice, if it’s CBP,” Goldstein said, rattling acronyms for various federal authorities. “There’s no accountability and no transparency.”
Sklansky points out that accountability doesn’t necessarily require a name or face. There is no law to require that, but federal authorities can simply make their badge number and the name of their agents visible somewhere. Finished! Officer accountability and safety.
“A lot of law enforcement agencies work this way,” he said.
Both Sklansky and Goldstein have told me that if they don’t provide any kind of reliable identification, there will be a unique risk. By law, law requires law enforcement not to interfere with its failure to fulfill its obligations. But if it’s law enforcement and you don’t know that you’re witnessing an attack or are afraid of being a victim of it, then things will be different.
Goldstein said he was worried about violence if he thought bystanders were in the middle of a crime, or if local law enforcement was called to intervene in something that looked like an addict or assault.
“People don’t know if they’re a fraud or law enforcement,” Goldstein said of the executives who hide or hide their affiliation.
“Someone will get hurt. Citizens will get hurt, local police will get hurt, or federal agents will get hurt. Their tactics are dangerous and put the community at risk,” she said.
It is true that people are afraid of pretending to be law enforcement. Last week, Minnesota Senators and her husband were killed by a gunman pretending to be police officers. That same gunman has also previously gone to another politician and his wife’s house and shot them likewise, but they are expected to survive.
The shooter slammed at the front door of his victim and demanded he be inside as he is a law enforcement agency. The article has since appeared, pointing out that people have the right to ask questions before assuming that the guy with the badge is truly a police officer.
After that attack, St. Cloud Police Chief Jeff Oxton tried to quell the fear of fake police officers roaming the streets by issuing a statement that emphasized “it is important that our masses are confident in identifying officers.”
Of course, that’s important. In fact, it is essential to democracy and public safety. The power of law comes from our trust in those who have been empowered to enforce it, their willingness to respect their authority. George Floyd’s death and subsequent protests show just how tenuous and important that trust is.
An anonymous man wearing a ski mask doesn’t stimulate his trust and deserves it.
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