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ICE's 'Frightening' Facial Recognition App is Scanning US Citizens Without Their Consent
(www.commondreams.org)
this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2025
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No, they are law enforcement and should be readily identifiable the community they serve. Including their face. Also being masked makes it harder for the people they're interacting with to understand what they're saying. They lose all the non-verbal communication that comes from the face. Them being masked has absolutely zero upside to the public.
I don't think this is necessary. What does seeing an officer's face do that a name and badge number doesn't? What about undercover cops? What about the winter when it's cold?
I think it should only be required that they declare on what authority they're acting when making official actions, like a stop, detainment, or arrest. They should give their name and badge number upon request, in a form that works for the asker (written or verbal, asker's preference).
If we ban law enforcement from wearing masks, that opens the door to banning masks in public. I get that police should follow higher standards (I'm absolutely in favor of ending qualified immunity), but IMO the rules should merely be that police must self identify in a way the public knows they're legitimate law enforcement when using the authority of their position.
Witnesses who are too far away to see their identification can still see their face to ID them. Undercover cops are a different situation than what ICE is doing and really shouldn't be making arrests IMO. In winter they can take their mask off to interact with people.
It doesn't. The general public doesn't need to be identifiable at all times like cops do.
Sure, I just don't think that's a reasonable thing to require at all times.
Instead, the public should be free to approach to a safe distance to film, and then attempt to talk with law enforcement when safe. A police officer is required to identify themselves to the suspect due to the fourth amendment. Whether they are required to identify themselves to the public is up to local law, court precedent, and agency policy.
Neither do. Police only need to be identifiable when using their authority, such as when making an arrest or dealing with protests, and in the latter case, only agency affiliation is necessary.
It is. There's literally no reason they ever need to be masked.
Disagree. Police serve the public. If they are working they should all be identifiable so they can't step out of line. Especially during protests. Otherwise we end up with priest getting shot in the eyes with pepper rounds.
Cops have rights too. If an officer wants to wear a mask, I don't see any reason to deny them that. They must, however, identify themselves, the risk of someone pretending to be law enforcement is too great.
Agreed, I just don't think masks are the issue here. IMO, officers involved in protest duty should have their badge number on their uniform in a big enough font for a camera to pick up. Likewise, body cameras should be on and recording the entire time.
They refuse to be held accountable or hold each other accountable across the board. They deserve nothing but to do their fucking job exactly as the public who they serve wills it. If they don't like it they can quit. They have abused any and every bit of latitude they've been given since the inception of police forces. They don't need masks, they don't need privacy while they're working. Any who want to hide should be fired immediately. If they don't have enough integrity to stand behind their actions they're in the wrong line of work.
They can turn off body cams, or refuse to answer questions of bystanders, or hide their badge numbers. They do it all the time. If they aren't allowed to wear masks at least people will have their faces to go off.
The solution IMO isn't to make a bunch of rules to try to make them act better, the solution is to increase accountability. That means:
At the same time, we should increase salaries of police officers to encourage good cops instead of power hungry cops, and perhaps have cash rewards for officers who turn in other officers for criminal violations.
If we focus on laws to force police to act better, they'll just give themselves a pass.
Being able to see their faces increases accountability.
Again, I don't think it really does.
Let's say I identify an officer that shot a pepper ball at a protester. Let's say I report it to the news, file a complaint, and file a lawsuit. Here's what I expect to happen:
That's not real accountability IMO, real accountability would result in the officer getting investigated by the AG or something and potentially jailed for using excessive force.