14 hours ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Can state make officers show their faces during protests? Experts appear doubtful
As officers across California clash with protesters of immigration raids, two Bay Area lawmakers proposed legislation Monday that would make it a crime for state or federal police to wear masks.
'We do not need secret police in California,' state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said at a news conference on the steps of City Hall announcing the introduction of Senate Bill 627.
'It's important that we know who are carrying out law enforcement operations,' said the bill's co-author, Sen. Jesse Arreguin, D-Berkeley, chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee. 'People are afraid. Families are being torn apart.'
Under the measure, which would take effect next year, a masked officer could be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by a jail sentence and a fine. The only exemptions would be for medical masks, masks needed to protect against smoke from wildfires and other dangerous conditions, and police emergency squads known as Special Weapons and Tactics teams, or SWAT.
SB627 would also require officers to wear a name or badge on their uniform to identify them to the public. It would not prohibit them from wearing visors that left their faces visible. And it would apply only to law enforcement officers, and not to the National Guard troops that President Donald Trump has sent to the streets in Los Angeles while their deployment is challenged in court.
Asked whether the state could regulate the clothing or conduct of federal officers, Wiener cited court rulings upholding state and local 'sanctuary' policies that prohibit federal immigration agents from requiring police and jail officials in California to hold undocumented immigrants in custody for deportation. But some law professors were skeptical about applying a state mask ban to U.S. government officers.
'Generally the state cannot dictate how federal law enforcement operates,' said Laurie Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor.
'The state can't tell the feds what to do,' said Robert Weisberg, a Stanford law professor and co-director of the school's Criminal Justice Center.
Citing violence in some of the immigration protests in Los Angeles, Trump declared federal control of the California National Guard last week and sent 8,000 guard troops and 700 U.S. Marines into the city streets.
In a lawsuit by the state, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled Thursday that the president had acted illegally by failing to show that the takeover was needed for public safety and failing to consult with Gov. Gavin Newsom. But Breyer's order to remove the National Guard troops was quickly blocked by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday.
Wiener said the federal government's actions in California 'have created an atmosphere of profound terror.' He said federal officers have covered their faces, badges and names, and some have worn 'police' tags on their jackets, impersonating local officers. In addition to Los Angeles, Wiener said, the raids have been conducted in San Francisco, San Diego and Concord.
There was no immediate comment on SB627 from organizations representing local police. But they have said officers are already required to wear badges and have questioned the need for further requirements.
