In response to immigration raids by masked federal officers in Los Angeles and across the nation, two California lawmakers on Monday proposed a new state law to ban members of law enforcement from concealing their faces while on the job.
The bill would make it a misdemeanor for local, state and federal law enforcement officers to cover their faces with some exceptions, and also encourage them to wear a form of identification on their uniform.
“We’re really at risk of having, effectively, secret police in this country,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), co-author of the bill.
I get it for that balaclava stuff, which doesn’t have a lot of functional use unless it’s very cold.
But cops are gonna sometimes need to wear a gas mask, and that’s gonna obscure features.
Cold does not apply. This is california. Park rangers might sometimes need to go places where you need more than a light jacket, but no other cop ever will.
A cop does not ever need a gas mask.
They can simply choose to not deploy gas.
They’re not running into fucking burning buildings. Nobody else uses gas munitions. Gas is a terror weapon.
Edit: also coast guard. Pacific can get pretty cold.
Fuck em. Tear gas is on outlawed war weapon. They should have been jailed for it’s use.
I don’t care what reason a cop has anymore. They are liars all of them trained and required to be. That right there takes a certain lack of care for fellow humans
So cops and law enforcement as they are currently practiced are as big a threat as trump.
Until they turn on trump, they are complicit
That’s one of the main exceptions mentioned in the article:
But I can see the claim of “health reasons” being abused.
They will absolutely claim they need it for protection from Covid. And it all of a sudden won’t hinder their breathing at all.
Then they should only be allowed to wear a full gasmask or a standard medical mask in those engagements.
None of this balaclava shit.
Make them uncomfortable or hypocrates.
Oh, and regardless of when they are wearing a mask or not, they need to have their ID number printed clearly visible on their helmets, their vests (back and front), and their pants.
Full gasmask and helmet with a photo of the officer. Require a distinctive pose in the photo by each member of a department for easy identification by face-blind folks. This reveals the officers’ anime preferences and thereby lets the public know levels of threat.
And let’s get an exhale filter on that gas mask, because during the pandemic is now. Every broken chain of transmission is still valuable, especially for vulnerable persons targeted by cops.
Which would be obnoxiously ironic, considering how police unions fought tooth and nail against mask mandates during the pandemic. Fucking idiots.
While counting COVID fatalities as deaths in the line of duty.
I’m not sure if this will be the case, but does that cover the case where they’re the reason? Because that’s one way to ensure escalation to “tear gas on hand, everywhere, at all times.”
Smoke inhalation too, because of smoke grenades and flashbangs
And lead at an indoor shooting range. Some of the fashiest doorknob-licking motherfuckers imaginable will still don a respirator for range time.
Ya
I hate breathing crib fumes
And theres the problem of frequent blood spatter. College kids and old people bleed a lot.
Is there a reason why SWAT gets a general exception?
Tactical breaching equipment has head and facial protection on just about everything.
It’s likely phrased in the law as closer to while serving on a swat team, as in they’re actively wearing a ballistic face shield and gas mask for legitimate reasons.
It’s a prime opportunity for things to get lost in translation between the law, the person talking to the press, and the report.
Maybe they shouldn’t be committing war crimes on civilians.
Whoopsie daisy, looks like we all need to wear gas masks today boys! Our buddy in forensics says there’s totally a legitimate risk today, so the gas masks gotta come out