By Jeff A. Chamer
The Charlotte Observer
STATESVILLE, N.C. — Deputies on the Iredell County Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team hid their identities with face coverings when they arrested 10 people on drug charges in Statesville Aug. 8, mirroring a technique now used by federal ICE agents.
The sheriff’s office posted photos of the masked deputies on Facebook Aug. 12.
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It’s a move that’s brought law enforcement agencies under scrutiny, with lawmakers in some states, including New York and Massachusetts, looking to outlaw officers from concealing their identities. But Iredell Sheriff Darren Campbell said balaclavas and gaiters, a circular cloth worn around the neck, have been allowed for years and are a matter of safety.
“I served on the team in 2000, was a commander up until I got elected, and I wore one,” Campbell said in a phone interview with The Charlotte Observer. “It’s not a mask, it is just simply a face covering, which is for our narcotics people and our tactical teams because they do some dangerous stuff sometimes.”
Campbell said he has a responsibility to protect his deputies, especially those going undercover to do tactical work, and supports them concealing their faces.
One photo posted on Campbell’s Facebook page from the drug busts showed three deputies in the back of a law enforcement vehicle, faces covered and donning sunglasses. One wore a solid green gaiter, another in a solid black, and the third with a camo pattern.
In another photo, a deputy had his face covered as he helped other unmasked deputies perp walk several people arrested. A third photo showed at least five deputies wearing gaiters as they entered a Statesville home.
Campbell said the neck cloths are also used to protect deputies when going into potentially hazardous environments, comparing it to firefighters who he said sometimes wear them when going into burned structures. The sheriff’s office doesn’t have a policy about face coverings, he said.
“I do not have a full-time tactical team, so these are guys that may do other stuff. They may be narcotics, they may be on our aggressive criminal enforcement team,” he said. “I do not need the bad guys ... to recognize that guy is also the guy that he’s selling drugs to. So it’s definitely a safety issue more than anything.”
Jake Sussman, senior counsel of justice system reform at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham, said there needs to be a high bar when allowing law enforcement officers to conceal their identities. The coalition is a nonprofit that advocates for changes in the criminal justice system to protect the economically disadvantaged.
Courts have allowed certain, narrow reasons for law enforcement officers to be anonymous — such as if they’re working undercover.
“But otherwise, this is all something that’s open and in the public,” said Sussman, who previously practiced law in the Charlotte area.
Agencies should have a clear policy for the instances in which it’s appropriate for officers to conceal their identities, Sussman said. Otherwise, it could lead to lack of transparency from law enforcement and the inability to hold people accountable. He said it could erode the public’s trust.
Additionally, conversations about protecting people from harassment and online doxing can’t be a “one-way street” focused on law enforcement, Sussman said. Sussman pointed out that the Iredell photos showed the faces of the people being arrested, saying they are innocent until proven guilty.
“It should call into question whether it would then be appropriate to post things on Facebook, where it seems to be centering (a) masked officer while also displaying pictures of public citizens who have been merely accused of some wrongdoing,” Sussman said. “We have to address that issue alongside of what are the credible, legitimate public safety concerns that drive this practice.”
Thaddeus Johnson , a senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice who worked as a police officer in Tennessee for a decade, agreed that these kinds of photos should not be publicized. Photographs of evidence is one thing, he said, but there shouldn’t be photos showing the faces of the people who were arrested.
He said departments need to have a policy and a way to identify their undercover units, whether that is a special badge number, like SWAT, or an identifying number citizens can use to recognize a unit.
It’s problematic to not have a policy but allow officers to wear a mask, he said, and could have the opposite intended purpose by undermining their safety.
If people can’t distinguish an officer from a masked vigilante, they may respond by trying to run away or fighting back, he said. It could also deepen the divide between the police and community members.
He said he doesn’t necessarily think masks are a sign of departments copying ICE, but it could point to the influence the feds have over the culture and policies of those departments. That, mixed with rural departments being able to get military equipment for their officers, can have a “profound impact” on their behavior.
“I remember when we dressed in tactical gear, I felt like Rambo,” Johnson said. “But when I dressed in bike patrol gear, I felt a bit more community forward. That stuff really matters for behavior.”
Battle over ICE masking
There are no North Carolina laws specifically banning law enforcement from covering their faces.
At the federal level, two U.S. House Democrats introduced legislation to ban ICE agents from concealing their identities with masks, among similar bills. The “No Secret Police Act,” was introduced by New York Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Dan Goldman on June 26 . The act would also require officers to identify which agency they are with, as well as display insignia visibly on uniforms. But it is unlikely to pass the Republican-majority House.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has justified ICE agents donning masks during raids, saying they would be doxed if unmasked.
“From the people who mandated mask-wearing for years in America, it’s absurd,” Johnson said to a reporter on June 6. “They need to back off ICE and respect our agents.”
Should law enforcement officers be allowed to conceal their identities with face coverings during arrests for safety reasons?
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