With President Trump threatening to order federal agents to cities around the nation, legislators and law enforcement professionals are calling for the agents to stop wearing camouflage military-style uniforms in urban settings, the Washington Post reports.
A Marine Corps veteran who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego of Arizona told the Post, “They need to stop this charade and stop pretending they’re the military. They need to put their ICE uniforms and CBP uniforms back on.”
The use of camo by domestic federal agencies leads to confusion among the media, the public and even federal agents about whether an individual is a member of the military, the National Guard or one of various federal agencies.
“We want a system where people can tell the difference,” Jonathan Hoffman, the chief spokesman for Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Tuesday.
The use of camouflage uniforms without department badging or personal identifiers also leads to concerns of a military takeover of community policing.
“It’s not good for our democracy,” David Lapan, a former Marine who is now vice president of communications for the Bipartisan Policy Center, told The Post. “The public should not feel there is a militarized response to civil unrest.”
“The purpose of camouflage is to blend in and not be visible,” said Lapan. “As a law enforcement officer, you shouldn’t be blending in. That defeats the purpose.”
Further confusion happens when civil agency employees use equipment allocated to the military, as happened during the Lafayette Square protest in June, when officers from the US Bureau of Prisons were photographed holding shields emblazoned with “MILITARY POLICE”.