Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has no time for federal law enforcement officers who patrol the city while concealing their faces, questioning both the necessity and the optics of the practice.
Speaking this week, Bowser said she has asked Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith to raise the issue with the Biden administration after noticing federal officers — largely from the Department of Homeland Security — wearing masks during operations in the District.
“Our officers don’t wear masks. No one should be wearing masks,” Bowser recounted an MPD official telling her. She noted that D.C.’s local officers are required to wear badges, body cameras, and uniforms that clearly identify them to the public. “They’re accountable. They’re known. The public knows who they’re dealing with. That’s how it should be.”
The mayor drew a sharp contrast between local police and federal agents, who she said have been harder to identify when on the streets of the city. While the agents’ tactical vests generally display their agency affiliation, Bowser questioned why any officer needs to cover their face.
“They’re federal officials. They’re paid by taxpayers. They should be doing their jobs in a way that’s lawful and constitutional, and that’s part of the job,” Bowser said. “So why the masks?”
Residents and city officials have both discussed how seeing a masked federal officers, or officers, move through their streets is a sight that makes them feel uneasy. Some DHS agencies say that the masks are necesarry in certain drug-related or hazardous situations, but Bowser says those specific conditions are far from what’s being dealt with in D.C. at the moment.
For Bowser, the concern isn’t just something that she doesn’t like. She believes that by deploying officers who refuse to put themselves under any public scrutiny risks eroding the public’s trust in law enforceent more than it already has.
As of this week, the mayor said she has not received a formal response from the administration. But she made clear she intends to keep pressing. “I don’t know why anybody needs to wear a mask,” she said flatly.
