It matters that police officers aren’t wearing masks

Many police departments nationwide allow officers to wear masks at their own discretion while on protest duty.

Over the past two weeks, tens of thousands of people have marched through American streets to protest over George Floyd’s death, police brutality, and systemic racism. While these stories have dominated news coverage, the coronavirus pandemic is still far from over. Public health experts have expressed their support for the demonstrations, but many are worried about the jump in Covid-19 cases, especially as outbreaks in states like Arizona, California, and Florida are on the rise. Mass gatherings are risky, even if they are outside, as the protests are.

This is why many protestors have arrived at these events masked, equipped with hand sanitizer, gloves, and sometimes extra personal protective equipment (PPE) for other protesters and even for on-duty police officers.

According to the online testimonies of on-the-ground protesters and reporters, many members of the police force at these protests don’t appear to be wearing masks. Masks are an optional accessory for most officers on protest duty, HuffPost’s Alexander Kaufman reported, and some police departments allow cops to wear face coverings at their own discretion. Still, so long as the coronavirus continues to be a public health threat, it remains a valid question — one that protesters have voiced after being in close confrontations with unmasked police: Why are officers able to dress up in riot gear but not put on masks? Why are civilians expected to vigilantly mask up when cops, whose job it is to enforce the law, aren’t expected to do the same?

“Officers are encouraged to wear masks but it is voluntary, except in situations in which they are interacting with vulnerable populations or entering places where the Mayor’s order has required face coverings,” a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, wrote to me in an email. And while the city of Chicago’s policy generally requires all on-duty personnel to wear department-issued surgical masks and gloves, a spokesperson said: “Given the heightened activity that officers have been responding to in the past week, there may be situations in which officers may not have masks and gloves on.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio emphasized the need for officers to wear masks in public, saying at a press conference: “I know you have a hard job but, you know — do unto others. If we’re asking everyone else to follow the rules, social distancing, wear a face covering for the protection of all, you should do it too.”

Most police departments probably have the financial capacity to fully equip officers with masks, Kaufman noted, in light of the national scrutiny toward growing city police budgets. However, HuffPost’s survey of the country’s 20 most-populous cities found that most police departments had “loose guidelines” and virtually no measures to penalize officers for not wearing masks.

It doesn’t help that the US doesn’t have universal mask guidelines; instead, guidelines vary by state and locale, which can be confusing. Furthermore, the American medical community — and as a result the US — was late to encourage mask-wearing, in comparison to Asian countries like China, South Korea, and Japan. In February, for example, many experts consistently told me that masks weren’t necessary and that Americans shouldn’t hoard surgical or medical-grade masks, like the coveted N95, which should be reserved for front-line health care workers. Some experts started walking back those statements in mid- to late March, and by early April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had amended its guidelines to encourage the wearing of “cloth face coverings” in public settings where people could come into close contact with each other.

Because there are no clear laws in place mandating masks in public, the decision to wear one ultimately falls on the individual. It’s a simple choice, one that should be made for the sake of public health and the collective good of others in the community. But given how the coronavirus — specifically how states and lawmakers have responded to it — has become so politicized, donning a mask can also be interpreted as a moral or political statement; in some right-wing circles, it’s seen as an overreaction to the severity of the pandemic.

Our future will likely be masked, as Rachel Sugar wrote for The Goods, although there are detractors who still refuse to wear masks in public (Exhibit A: President Donald Trump, who doesn’t “want to give the press the pleasure of seeing” him masked). On Twitter, Trump shared a tweet that mocked Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for wearing a black mask in public, and some reports say that Trump believes masking up could ruin his presidential image.

While there are plenty of viral videos on social media of obstinate customers who refuse to put on a mask, this contrarian behavior actually runs counter to that of a majority of Americans, according to a survey conducted in early May by the Democracy Fund and the UCLA Nationscape project. About 85 percent of the 4,500 Americans surveyed, which includes Democrats, Republicans, and independents, have worn a mask in public. (About 89 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans said they’ve worn a mask to limit the spread of the coronavirus.)

”The idea that there is a sizable portion of the population who’s somehow violently opposed to this behavior that public health officials are advising just doesn’t seem to line up,” Robert Griffin, research director for the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, told USA Today. However, these partisan divisions on a national level are difficult to measure, as the impact of the coronavirus varies by state and region, and public attitudes could swiftly change after a spike in cases.

As a result of these high-profile incidents, masks are seen as a symbolic shorthand for the partisan rift that has emerged from the coronavirus “culture wars.” In some cases, shop owners are refusing to serve those who do wear masks, the Washington Post reported. But as shocking as these isolated incidents might seem, the number of Americans who mask up (and the number of privately owned businesses that encourage mask-wearing) appears to outweigh those who don’t.

Yet entire police forces, even the New York City Police Department (which serves a city that is experiencing the worst of the coronavirus pandemic), are widely seen unmasked during patrols, while being expected to interact with civilians on a daily basis. When I sent an email asking the NYPD to clarify its mask policy, I received an email that provided no clear answers from department spokeswoman Sgt. Jessica McRorie: “Perhaps it was the heat. Perhaps it was the 15-hour tours, wearing bullet-resistant vests in the sun. Perhaps it was the helmets. With everything New York City has been through in the past two weeks and everything we are working towards together, we can put our energy to a better use.”

There could be many reasons as to why police officers — a highly visible, organized group — are seemingly flouting these rules. Most police forces consist largely of men, and according to a Gallup poll conducted in mid-April, women are more likely to wear a mask outside of the home than men. A mask could be internalized as a sign of weakness and an affront to a person’s masculinity if they are seen wearing one, which could explain why Trump insists on avoiding cameras when masked. Men and women “absolutely” think differently about wearing masks, Catherine Sanderson, a psychology professor at Amherst College, told the New York Times. “Men speed more. Men engage in higher rates of binge drinking. Men are less likely to wear seatbelts.” For those in a high-risk profession like policing, the coronavirus might not seem to be as of an imminent threat as, say, rowdy protesters, which could make wearing masks less of a priority.

Regardless of the reason, these images of maskless police officers are only fueling the growing tide of anger and distrust toward law enforcement, adding to a narrative that officers don’t care about the health and safety of their own communities. It bolsters the perception that cops are above the law, or that they are able to interpret and apply the law however they wish. The optics of a maskless person can be jarring, serving as a stark reminder that the person is exempt from the rules that apply to the general public.

As masks become more normalized in the public sphere, especially as many states’ economies are expected to reopen, double standards for wearing them — among cops, civilians, and politicians alike — can put public health at risk. It is perhaps ironic, then, that some police officers, who operate as agents of the state, are refusing to comply with the guidance set forth by the authorities that lend their actions legitimacy.

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