# Why don't the Portland police arrest the camouflaged feds?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-the-portland-police-arrest-the-camouflaged-feds/916331>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [July 25, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-the-portland-police-arrest-the-camouflaged-feds/916331 "2020-07-25T18:32:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-the-portland-police-arrest-the-camouflaged-feds/916331/121 "2020-07-28T05:51:26Z")

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There’s Illegal and **ILLEGAL.** If they were robbing banks or shooting people down on cold blood with real bullets- maybe.

But what they are doing is violating Constitutional rights, etc, Federal laws, which generally require Court orders and decisions. So, yes, the ACLU will likely win several of their cases, which will prove (some of what) what they are doing is illegal. But not ILLEGAL.

So yeah, Federal courts may rule they have to stop- in fact one court ordered them to stop harassing journalists- and they didnt stop. This may result in court orders, contempt, etc.

But if they have violated state laws, they likely have done so under color of authority, and the state likely cant touch them- without a court order that is.

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-the-portland-police-arrest-the-camouflaged-feds/916331/122 "2020-08-02T21:32:05Z")

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> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> Along those lines, could someone kill one of these cops and then _successfully_ plead self-defense on the grounds of he had no way of knowing who this guy was who was assaulting him?

Now that that person has been banned, anyone else feel like answering, please do.

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-the-portland-police-arrest-the-camouflaged-feds/916331/123 "2020-08-02T22:36:26Z")

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Well, since every newspaper and news source has talked about them and shown pictures, and they travel in large groups, with a large tag “POLICE” on the front- I sincerely doubt it.

Mind you, yes, undercover cops have been shot by mistake- even by other cops.

But these guys were anything but undercover.

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