Notice something in common in these photos?
It’s not what you think
I gave it away in the third pic
That’s right! None of these cops are wearing badges or name tags! I wonder why… seems like it’d be important to wear those, since it’s even illegal not to in other states…
This is actually illegal in all states. A police officer must be marked as such with name and badge at all times unless their jurisdiction states otherwise (such as an undercover officer), and even when not wearing a badge, the officer must have the badge accessible at all times and must show the badge in order to make an arrest. Name tags are not required as long as a badge is available because the badge has the officer number on it.
This has really been bothering me. The police in Ferguson are breaking the law by concealing their identities. Everyone knows this, it’s been going on for ten days, and it appears that nobody is doing anything about it. The police are clearly and systematically violating the first amendment rights of the press, and they are getting away with it. This has been happening for days, and nobody appears to be doing anything about it. A police officer pointed a rifle at a journalist and told him to fuck off *while he was being filmed, so he’s easily identifiable by his superiors*, and that police officer still has a job. I know that not all cops are bad (or even most cops), but there are clearly bad cops in Ferguson, and they’re acting with complete impunity. I don’t understand why those cops aren’t being taken off the scene, and why a higher (possibly federal) authority isn’t coming in to address these things.
