Why the Minnesota National Guard is being forced to dress like crossing guards
The announcement earlier this week that the Minnesota National Guard was standing by to assist local law enforcement and public safety agencies in and around Minneapolis-St. Paul included a surprising detail. “If our members are activated,” it read, “they will be wearing reflective vests … to help distinguish them from other agencies in similar uniforms.”
From a design perspective, the whole point of uniforms is to provide an instant visual signal. But that mission has been thwarted in the ongoing besiegement of the Twin Cities by thousands of officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection, and other federal agencies. Most notably, many sport camouflage and gear that civilians tend to associate with the military. The upshot is that it’s become harder for the average person to understand at a glance who is there to do what.
Certainly the presence of uniformed members of multiple agencies seems out of hand when the National Guard has to start wearing crossing guard vests to distinguish themselves. The situation would be comical if it weren’t so bleak, as if it’s apparently become necessary for members of the U.S. military to visually announce, “hey we’re here to help, not an occupying army or a threat.”
In a way, this throws into sharp relief how effective the ICE aesthetic has been in projecting a quasi-militaristic version of federal law enforcement. The agency’s look has been attracting attention for months as it has pursued undocumented immigrants (or just people it suspects might be) in crackdowns in Chicago, New Orleans, Minneapolis, and elsewhere, often showing up at work sites or public spaces in what resembles military tactical gear, body armor, weapons, and masks.
As a GQ assessment of the ICE look pointed out, the agency does not have a single mandatory uniform, just a set of guidelines that give agents latitude to mix street clothes with military-pattern gear, fitted with patches or plate carriers labeled “ICE.” Most notoriously, many choose to wear gaiter-style masks, to protect their identity and avoid being doxed or otherwise retaliated against. To critics, the upshot of this aesthetic is a lack of transparency and a sense of intimidation: Intentionally or not, the look signals a disruptive, occupying force. “You’ve got cops geared up like they’re ready to go fight in Fallujah,” one Redditor commented, “in order to arrest some cooks and landscapers.”
At the very least, the overlapping uniform styles can be a source of confusion. If military veterans “have to look very hard” at images and footage to figure out individual affiliations, “then the average citizen is going to easily confuse what they see as a militarized response rather than a law enforcement one,” retired Marine Col. David Lapan, a former spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Department of Homeland Security, told military news site Task & Purpose. Worst case scenario, Lapan added: “It creates the perception that the U.S. military is being used to suppress the American people.”
So far the Guard has not been deployed to city streets in Minneapolis; in a press statement, the Minnesota National Guard said they remain on alert could be called on for “traffic support to protect life, preserve property, and support the rights of all Minnesotans to assemble peacefully.”
Underlying the potential visual confusion is the question of whether camouflage serves any particular function for federal agents operating on city streets in the first place. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, best known for his blunt-talking style while overseeing the National Guard deployment to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, pointed out to Task & Purpose: “There’s nothing that a camouflage uniform can do for you in an urban operation other than [to] portray a sense of authority.” His suggestion to non-military agencies currently using camo: “Go get your own goddamned uniforms.”