California bills to unmask federal officers, mandate visible ID advance in Assembly
One of those bills would make California the first state in the country to ban law enforcement officers at all levels from covering their faces during operations, including immigration raids.
Senate Bill 627, which passed through the Assembly Public Safety Committee, was authored in direct response to immigration raids happening across the state.
Under the legislation, also referred to as the No Secret Police Act, if law enforcement officials do not comply, they could be charged with a misdemeanor. There are exceptions for SWAT and undercover work.
State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who introduced the legislation with Senator Jesse Arreguin (D-Berkeley), said that the public has a right to know if they're interacting with a real officer.
"This bill is not about preventing law enforcement from engaging in their typical work," Wiener said. "It is about preventing extreme masking that is causing terror in our communities."
Critics argue that the bill is cracking down on California law enforcement officers who aren't even part of immigration raids.
John Myers, visiting professor of law at UC College of Law, San Francisco, said he understands the concerns surrounding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other officers concealing identities.
He calls it a legitimate public policy issue. However, he said that this bill isn't a good way to address those concerns, calling it micro-managing.
"It's an effort to solve an issue that the State of California has no authority to solve, unfortunately," Myers said. "And secondly, I think it will hamstring local law enforcement with a bill that will have lots of unintended consequences."
The other bill passed by the committee was Senate Bill 805, which aims to strengthen existing law for impersonating an officer, firefighter, or government employee.
That requires all law enforcement, including local, state and federal, to display visible identification like names or badge numbers.
SB805, referred to as the No Vigilantes Act, was introduced by Senator Sasha Perez (D-Pasadena).
"We are facing an extraordinary moment here in California. Masked individuals with no identification, no uniform,s driving unmarked vehicles and carrying firearms are taking our neighbors, both immigrants and American citizens, in broad daylight. When asked by the public to provide badge numbers, they refuse," Perez said.
Supporters of the bill include the Peace Officers Research Association of California.
However, Myers said that this legislation wouldn't be a problem for patrol officers who are very clearly law enforcement with their uniforms and badges on display. He said it's a problem for the hundreds of detectives and investigators across the state.
"They wear a suit to work, and the long-standing tradition in law enforcement for them is to have the badge typically on their belt, where it can not be seen," Myers said. "They're not acting undercover. They're just doing their normal investigative work. It could be quite disruptive to that work if they're required to have that badge out."
Myers said that if that portion of the bill were eliminated, that would be a step in the right direction. That's expected to be amended as the bill moves forward.
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