DC police chief says city plans to ask federal officers to clearly identify themselves

Washington, D.C., will ask federal officers on the scene of protests in the city to clearly identify themselves, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham said Thursday after reports that officials had been patrolling demonstration areas without identifying labels or insignia.

“If the federal government expands their footprint we’re obviously not going to get into a physical conflict over that, I think that’s more of a legal battle,” Newsham said in a press conference Thursday.

Questioned about the presence of armed personnel without nameplates at the White House Wednesday, Newsham said, “There’s a local, legal requirement that the Metropolitan Police Department identify themselves,” adding that even when soldiers had worn helmets over the weekend, they had been equipped with clear insignias and identifying marks.

“I think in any follow up after-action that we do with our federal partners that would be a big ask of us, that any resources that they bring into the District of Columbia can be clearly identifiable as to who they are,” he added. “People might feel more comfortable if they could look at people who appear to be soldiers and say ‘Oh, that’s the D.C. National Guard.’”

Military personnel extended the perimeter around the White House Wednesday, blocking off access to Lafayette Square while in many cases not wearing identifiers. The Hill reached out to the Department of Justice, Pentagon, White House and Park Police to ask what agency the military personnel came from, with the Park Police saying the police force was not theirs.

On Monday, well before the city’s curfew, authorities aggressively cleared Lafayette Square near the White House of demonstrators, using smoke grenades and pepper bombs, both of which affect people similarly to tear gas. Park Police have said they were responding to violence from protesters, claims that have been denied by numerous reporters and observers on the ground.

D.C., like most other major U.S. cities, has seen several nights of demonstrations following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for several minutes despite Floyd’s protests that he could not breathe.