At any given time, residents spot groups of people wearing masks and neck gaiters stopping their neighbors. Sometimes they also have a hat and sunglasses, so that no part of their face is visible. They often don plain clothes with bulletproof vests that have little to no identification markers, aside from the word “police.” They’re federal agents — but who is behind the mask and what department they’re working for is often a mystery.
“Is this MPD? Is this DEA? Is this HSI? Is this ICE?” says Tiffani Johnson, the advisory neighborhood commissioner (ANC) for 4B06. “We don’t know.”
President Trump’s thirty-day crime emergency may have ended, but life in D.C. is anything but back to normal…