It was illegal for blacks to march in the south, and they did.  It cost lots of money to have the police come and beat them for daring to challenge the law they felt was unjust.  Police told them to stop marching, and they kept going.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr#.22Bloody_Sunday.22.2C_1965

So in your mind he is a criminal and we should ignore that what is was protesting was right and just.  That he should have just accepted the law and stayed in his place.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches

I do not work in a  public setting.  I am not paid with public funds.  I do not have a list of rules governing my appearance when I am in uniform.  Trying to spin this into I should feel sorry for a cop openly breaking the law because if it was done to me I’d be angry really is a cop out on your part.  You want me to experience empathy for someone breaking the law while employed to uphold it.  I don’t care if he was having a bad day, or was grumpy, or was worried about his family, or any of that.  I care about him being in direct violation of the law while firmly wrapped in the protection of his position.

Maybe if OPD had not put 2 veterans in the hospital, forcing one to crawl on his hands and knees while in pain from his spleen being ruptured and left in a cell while it bled because he was unable to walk I might experience empathy.  Maybe had OPD not turned their raid into a complete clusterfuck, and then LIE TO OUR FACES ABOUT WHAT WE SAW ON VIDEO, I might have some respect for them.  An OPD officer is on tape, BREAKING THE LAW.  Maybe if they respected the law and our rights I would give them more respect.  They put on a uniform, swear to protect and serve, and then break the law.  Is this cop guilty of anything other than covering up his badge?  I have no idea.  What I do know is someone with power and authority decided to break the law, why do you expect me to respect it anymore than he did?  What I do know is when the situation is tense this officers best idea was to cover his own ass, screw the law.

To borrow some information posted earlier…
“Each officer shall wear a badge, nameplate, or other device on the
outside of his or her uniform or on his or her helmet which bears the
identification number or the name of the officer, as required by Penal
Code § 830.10.”

What I’m saying is, once again, he was wrong, he was told to rectify the situation and did, should we continue to humiliate him with a viral web video?

It’s illegal for him to make that decision. Why are you trying so hard to reason your way around this?

YES, he should be held accountable
YES, he should not be above the law
YES, he should follow the rules he enforces

Perhaps his intentions was to discourage retribution to his family if his name showed up on an amateur YouTube video, for ANY reason, while he was doing his job.

This man performs his job and is accountable and legally required to show his name, and show his position as a police office, WHEN ON DUTY, and for the individuals with which he is conferring, or working.

Let me ask you — if someone were recording your every move, good or bad, while at work, every day, whether you like it or not, AND, you didn’t know when, or whom, was recording what, or at what time, how would that feel? Would you feel self-conscious about your actions and behaviors? Whether it be taking 5 minutes longer to return from lunch or chatting with an office mate at the water cooler when you are supposed to be working, don’t you think you’d feel strange about that?

Now what if you add to the mix a highly charged environment, in a situation in which, perhaps, your life could be in danger, or you could get hurt. 

I am NOT justifying this man’s behavior or breaking police policy or, perhaps, any laws. What I’m saying is this is unusual, and we are living in unusual times. When the law (if it is a law, I still believe it is likely police policy/rules, but isn’t strictly a law) was created, I wonder if the idea of nationally televised viral joe-blow videos were considered.

Again, I say, for me this isn’t an issue of him having broken the rules – HE DID! He is guilty, guilty, guilty, and the supervisor corrected the situation. What I’m saying is, does the man deserve humiliation and mistreatment? Is that how we respect the law, and those who risk their lives and swear to protect us?

And between yourself and Zooey the only response has been to say I called him evil.  What is a good enough reason for the person charged with upholding the law to violate it himself?

The officer does not have the option to protect himself from media-hungry cameras, he is in public in uniform doing his job.  He is in the process of breaking the law by covering up his badge.  The fact you blithely accept there is some justification that places him above the law is the same mindset that looks the other way when the police put the beat down on a “criminal” and violates the criminals rights.  He was a bad person, he deserved it…
Either we hold them accountable everytime, or we accept they can choose where and when to follow or enforce the law, and our rights happen at their whim.

Is it “highly illegal”? Perhaps the law has changed. At the S11 protests in melbourne we were similarly outraged at the removal of name tags so we did some legal research, seeking to back up our outrage. Actually turned out the police here only have to provide ID if they are arresting you. As they were more interested in punching us than arresting us, technically, at least in regards to removing their name tags, they were not doing anything wrong. I wonder if this is not the case in the states as well. 

1. I did not have my face covered and Im not some out of town punk. I am a proud Black Male resident of OAKLAND

2. I never stated the cop had evil intentions.Im just  tired of cops getting away with shit because there is no proof.

3.I posted this video because of the officers ATTITUDE. We asked him politely why over 10 times. no answer and was trying to give me the intimidation stare. We remained respectful and non violent. Thats what cops ask for right?
4. All the officer had to say was…I’m hiding my name for my families safety. I dont want my family harassed.Then  I would NOT have posted the video.

5. This is for OSCAR GRANT!

6. I have been slam to the ground, had guns pointed at me, hit with nightsticks and held in handcuff being humiliated by POLICE.  KARMA just came back to equal out all the times cops have violated me and my friends!

** this man likely gets paid squat to go out every day and RISK HIS LIFE for the safety of you and your family

‘Police Officer’ isn’t even in the top ten most dangerous jobs. Farmers, fishermen and pizza deliverers take a higher risk when they go to work.

The looks that cop gave the camera holder spoke volumes to me. “You win this time, PUNK…But just wait ’till my superior ain’t around. Your hippie ass is MINE.” was the attitude that I saw…

At OPD, covering your nametag is a misdemeanor.

If you had asked an unwilling officer for his name or badge number you will be ignored or probably even attacked, just a warning to those out there thinking of doing this. 

The system is failing.
The system needs to start making sense instead of cents. 

* Yes, it was against policy for him to attempt to cover his name
* Yes, he was probably being cocky and self-righteous about it (I was married for years to a jailer, I know how cops and jailers can have god-complexes)
* Yes, he ignored you until you sought a superior and had the situation rectified

What I also know is:
** this man likely gets paid squat to go out every day and RISK HIS LIFE for the safety of you and your family
** this man does a job that most of the rest of us would never want to do – long and stressful hours, dealing with, typically, the worst society has to offer
** even a dick can have good intentions, and,
** EVERYONE, including cops, are human; they have families and personal interests and reasons for doing everything they do. Not all of those reasons are good, not all bad.

The bottom line is, while we need to keep our government accountable, think of the far worse atrocities that the OWS itself is attempting to represent. Perhaps we should stay focused on the purpose and the message. That police officer has been just as underrepresented in this society as all the rest of the 99%, and on top of it, he risks his life on the job! How many of you can say that? Give him a bit of slake, make him accountable by reporting the incident to his superior, by why humiliate someone who has yet to do anything but “look suspicious”. 

Seems to me that behavior is no better than the police officers who have far more obviously taken law into their own hands. Focus on those who ARE guilty, and don’t prosecute someone who likely was just trying to protect his interests from media-hungry cameras like this one.

Sadly it is sites like BoingBoing (which I completely enjoy and don’t blame particularly) that prop up these types of videos, encouraging people who are likely just like me, living hundreds and even thousands of miles from this situation. These people judge a situation they really know nothing about (he didn’t respond to the question about why he covered his name, but it would be interesting to know the truth), about someone they know even less about. I’m just as guilty at times, but the issue here is — when will the media become less about the drama of an incident, as if everyone lives in a made-for-TV reality show, and more about the humanity of our society and our lives. I believe we have become a society of sensationalism, and humiliating this cop on camera is just indication of how far people are willing to fulfill their own “instant fame” yearnings.

My, but you’re hopeless.  No, we do know he was doing something wrong.  He was explicitly trying to hide from accountability of his actions, and many people have pointed out laws against this.

No, we don’t know what those actions might have ended up being, but that’s not why he’s now documented in a video.  He is documented in a video because he is one of many who have been hiding from accountability, and because there is a real problem of police committing violence and avoiding responsibility by doing this.

It doesn’t matter whether this particular officer had done or would do something bad while his tag was hidden.  Hiding that namebadge isn’t a minor thing in these circumstances, and it is something that needs to be clearly documented.

Asking him, politely, why his badge is covered isn’t treating him like he’s a terrorist.  Doing so on camera, and documenting his refusal to respond or correct the situation on his own, is not treating him as though he is guilty of anything else.  It is raising awareness of a serious problem, which this officer is taking part of… regardless of whether he did anything else, whether he’s a “decent guy”, and whether his pay is good.

That confrontation also taught me something about the media.  The police baton-charged the striking miners, who retaliated with a counter-charge; when the BBC TV news reported this they simply reversed the order of events, and blamed the miners for starting the violence.

Luckily, HPD has been very relaxed with Occupy Houston. By the time we got to the Chase Bank divestment, we had over two hundred marchers. Marchers were allowed to enter the banks in small groups to either close their  accounts or make symbolic withdrawals. The ony time the police cot at all confrontational was when a heckler stopped his car in the street. He was told he needed to move on as soon as the light turned green.

Overall,  HPD has been highly professional. Though it does bother me a bit that they’re going to be wearing these jackets every morning until it warms up in February.

This does not imply that I expect you to shoot me out of turn, but that gun is a big responsibility, and responsibility goes hand in hand with accountability.

Here in Japan a CCTV camera is a rare thing, when there is an accident or a criminal being arrested the police will do their best to cover the victim and even the criminal with blankets so the media can’t take photos or videos.

Police officers are there to enforce the law, seeing we do not have another level above them to make sure they do the right job they need to be transparent.

However, I understand the confusion, and the high emotions involved. Police brutality is a serious, serious problem in America, and in the OWS movement. I am extremely close to the movement, and if someone were defending police brutality and the misuse of power we are fighting against… in ANY way… I would be completely inflamed… I don’t think I would be able to keep my emotions in check either.

PLEASE understand, I am not defending this! While I was playing devil’s advocate because I felt bad the public forum was insinuating this random police officer had plans to violently attack innocent civilians, I have NEVER DEFENDED IN ANY WAY this or any officer covering their badge identity. And I repeat, I think he SHOULD be prosecuted for covering his name tag. (In fact personally I think the law should be that any officer who conceals his/her identity, particularly in a riot situation, should lose his job. Common sense if you ask me.)

However, to be clear, WHAT I AM DEFENDING – is that IT IS A TOTALLY SEPARATE ISSUE to then prosecute an individual human being  in a public forum for something he DIDN’T ACTUALLY DO (as far as we know) –  which is to inflict violence against the innocent public. 

If you were accused of being a terrorist because you looked suspiciously like a terrorist might act, I would still stand by you and say it is wrong to publicly prosecute you as a terrorist unless you actually did ANYTHING other than suspiciously LOOKING LIKE one of the guys that ACTUALLY COMMITTED ACTS OF VIOLENCE.

Maybe he was going to do something bad. But we DON’T KNOW. 

What we do know, is there are those that ARE GUILTY. The police officials and heads of department should answer to the institutionalized polices of subverting civil liberties, and to all officers who actually DID commit violent acts against the public. THEY should answer, and THEY should pay.