LA County advances measure to ban law enforcement from wearing masks
A second vote is still needed, which will be held on December 9.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors took a first vote Tuesday to advance a proposed ordinance to prohibit law enforcement, including ICE agents, from wearing masks or concealing their identities when conducting law enforcement operations in the county.
The ordinance was proposed by Supervisor Janice Hahn and co-authored by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.
It passed on a 4-0 vote Tuesday morning, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger abstaining. A second vote is still needed, which will be held on Dec. 9.
If approved, the ordinance will prohibit all law enforcement members, including local, state and federal, from wearing masks or disguises while interacting with the public while working in unincorporated L.A. County.
It will also require that all law enforcement members wear visible identification and agency affiliation.
"This is how authoritarian secret police behaves - not legitimate law enforcement in a democracy," said Hahn. "ICE agents are violating our residents' rights every day they are on our streets. These agents hide their faces. They refuse to wear badges. They pull people into unmarked vans at gunpoint and wonder why people resist arrest. We are declaring in no uncertain terms that in L.A. County, police do not hide their faces. That is our expectation, and this ordinance will now make it our law."
If approved, the ordinance will go into effect 30 days after the second vote.
"It's frightening. You don't know if they're legit ICE agents, you don't know if they're a contractor, you don't know if they're an imposter, you don't know if they're a bounty hunter," said Carrie Scoville with Harbor Area Peace Patrols, a community group that documents the actions of federal agents daily.
ICE and Border Patrol leaders have defended the use of masks, saying there has been a significant increase in assaults on agents.
The Trump administration has sued California over a similar law. Hahn said she expects a similar legal challenge from the Trump administration.
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The L.A. County ordinance is slightly different from the California law. Unlike the state law, the county ordinance would apply to state law enforcement, like the California Highway Patrol.
The ordinance also incorporates "additional pre-approved exceptions," which were crafted in consultation with local law enforcement including medical masks, breathing apparatuses, motorcycle helmets when riding a motorcycle, SWAT teams and active undercover operations.
The big question about such an ordinance surrounds enforcement. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department, which would hypothetically enforce this law, told Eyewitness News in a statement, in part, "Current federal law will not allow us to enforce the proposed ordinance on federal agents, should the courts decide differently we will adjust accordingly."
