BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (WBFF) — A Baltimore County Council proposal aimed at stopping what its sponsor called “widespread panic” failed Monday, ending Councilman Izzy Patoka’s push to ban face masks for law enforcement officers and require visible identification.
Patoka’s bill would have prohibited face masks not only for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, but also for Baltimore County police officers, and would have required officers to visibly display identification. Patoka criticized ICE tactics, saying, “There’s no excuse for ICE behavior, wearing mask, creating terror…It’s not how a law enforcement entity ought to act.”
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The measure never gained much traction and drew debate at a recent Fraternal Order of Police meeting Patoka attended. During that discussion, a speaker challenged the proposal, saying, “The fact that Baltimore County officers only wear face mask for safety reasons or harsh weather conditions plus for the fact that by law, we’re required to wear name badges, with our last name and ID number on them. Are you going to pull your bill?”
Patoka responded by narrowing his focus to ICE while acknowledging the bill’s broader reach was tied to legal concerns.
“The intent was, you know, the behavior of ICE is not the behavior of the Baltimore County Police Department,” Patoka said. “But in order to make the bill viable legally, this is what my lawyer has told me is that you can’t just target one agency ICE.”
Betsy Smith, a law enforcement expert and spokesperson for the National Police Association, criticized the proposal as a safety risk for officers.
“Basically what this councilman is saying to his local law enforcement is that I want your support, but I’m frankly unconcerned about your safety,” she said.
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Smith also argued the proposal conflicted with public policy pushed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I remember about five years ago that we were demanding that everyone be masked. Law enforcement officers, our teachers, our citizens,” she said.
Republican Councilman Todd Crandell, who opposed the bill, told The Baltimore Sun it was “nothing more than election year pandering,” as Patoka is running for county executive.
Smith said the proposal faced fundamental legal hurdles.
It’s not constitutional and it’s not enforceable,” she said.
She added that elected officials should focus elsewhere, saying, “I believe that the councilman or any politician should be more concerned with criminals wearing masks in the commission of crimes than they are with federal law enforcement officers wearing masks.”
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