"California state Senator Scott Wiener (D-11th District) is on a mission to rein in America's new secret police. His bill, the No Secret Police Act (SB 627), would make it illegal for law enforcement officers to wear masks while making arrests, in most cases, and would empower local police and sheriffs to intervene should they do so. "We need to nip this in the bud and make clear it's not okay to do secret policing," Wiener told me."
"His colleague Renée Pérez has put forward a companion bill, the No Vigilantes Act (SB 805), which requires law enforcement officers to properly identify themselves. "The fact of masked law enforcement officers running around, essentially with ski masks on, grabbing people and throwing them into unmarked cars is terrifying," said Wiener. "It's the opposite of what a free society is supposed to be. We don't do secret police in this country-and that's what's emerging.""
""I work very closely with our state and local law enforcement. They do just tremendous work, and I want to make sure that it stays that way," he said. "But what the federal government is doing right now is so harmful, and I do worry it could have impacts on law enforcement culture more broadly. What ICE is doing is deeply harmful to the men and women in local law enforcement.""
Senator Scott Wiener has introduced the No Secret Police Act (SB 627) to prohibit law enforcement from wearing masks during most arrests and to allow local police and sheriffs to intervene. His colleague Renée Pérez proposed the No Vigilantes Act (SB 805) to require officers to properly identify themselves. The measures respond to instances of masked officers and impersonators conducting covert arrests, concerns about federal tactics normalizing secret policing, and the risk that such practices will spread to state and local agencies. Support has emerged from reform-minded groups and prosecutors concerned about public safety, civil liberties, and impacts on local law enforcement culture.
Read at The Nation
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]