Which is why its completely unheard of for cops, particularly when dealing with protesting hippies who deserve to get the crap beat out of them, to remove or cover their badge numbers.
Now I think that very few or no SWAT team members are consciously thinking “If I put on a balaclava, nobody can see who I am , which will let me commit all kinds of Evil Depredations without being caught”. Very few people think of themselves as someone who sets out to do evil, after all.
But I do think that a lot of cops – like a lot of people in general – really want to be all cool and Hollywood bad-ass with cool complex gear and stuff. And, I don’t think it’s something people deliberately choose or think about, but being unrecognizable feels cool and bad-ass. I mean, being unrecognizable and able to do whatever you want without fear is bad-ass, right?
So cops find some reason or excuse to cover their faces and play movie bad-ass. Whether having their face covered makes them tend to act more like a bully/bad-ass, I guess is something people can consider for themselves.
But I don’t think it’s any accident that SWAT teams overwhelmingly model themselves on stormtroopers, rather than, say football teams or astronauts or other groups that have clear visible indentification
If your face is visible, you’re more likely to worry about what people will think of your behavior.
I heard a discussion on the radio recently about violent protests being less effective than non-violent ones. The scene they painted is this. Suppose you are a police officer, on riot duty, watching a protest. If it’s a violent protest and you see your cousin in the crowd, but your cousin is throwing rocks or carrying a weapon, and you feel threatened, then over your radio you hear the police captain give the order to fire into the crowd, you’re probably going to comply. BUT if the crowd is non-violent and you see not only your cousin but also your grandmother in the crowd and you don’t feel threatened at all, and then over your radio you hear the police captain give the order to fire into the crowd, you’re probably NOT going to comply. You couldn’t live with yourself if you shot your own cousin when he’s unarmed and your grandmother saw you do it.
The police captain knows this. So he tells you to put on a mask before you go into the street. That way, if you have to shoot your cousin, your grandmother won’t know that it was you who did it.
Except in your video, covering your badge is against policy. Wearing a balaclava is part of their tactical gear and seems to be worn under specific circumstances.
Plus it also allows for such Hollywood tropes as throwing on a SWAT guy’s mask and sneaking away in the confusion or pulling off your balaclava and revealing yourself to be Commissioner Gordon, alive and well after all!
I know quiet a few LEOs, and have frequented LEO message boards. Unfortunately many have a “military” mindset. They think they’re at war, and behave (and buy stuff) accordingly.
