According to CNN, there has been a policy change at the Buffalo Police Department, which states that Buffalo police officers are no longer required to wear names on their uniforms. Instead of names, the officers are now required to have identifying numbers.
The policy, which went into effect in the last week of September, was made to protect officers from potential threats and risks that arose due to the protests that took place after police-involved deaths like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Concern grew as more and more police officers were doxed, which is an internet-based malicious practice of making an individual’s personal information public.
“What we have seen is some of these doxing incidents are occurring from people that are not in this city, are not in this county, are not in this region, but people in different parts of the country, maybe internationally, that see a name on a uniform and then go to work on the computer. That is inappropriate,” Mayor Brown told CNN’s affiliate WKBW. “I think it’s something that should be illegal, but I also think every police officer that works as a police officer should be identified.”
However, it is also required that the police officers must be identifiable to the public. In recent events, some law enforcement officers present at the protests had no badges, while a few of them covered them. This created a trust and safety issue among the community.
A few police departments like the Rochester Police Department, for instance, allowed their officers to cover names on the badges during protests, at their own discretion in order to maintain their safety.
New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, said that covering up a badge number or name is widely inappropriate as the purpose of having it on the person was to create trust with the public.
Hence, to ensure the safety of the Police Officers as well as to maintain trust the Buffalo Police are required to have identifying numbers instead of names.
