There is a law enforcement problem in the USA. Last week in Pasadena, a man left his car and pointed a gun at pedestrians. After a short time, he got back in his car and drove away. The police are trying to find out if he was a federal agent of some sort, or a criminal. Nobody can tell the difference.
A man who claimed to be an ICE agent harassed workers at a car repair garage and stole $1000. Again, nobody knows who is real and who is not.
The police have started alerting ICE to people who call them out, for instance in cases of domestic violence. As such, people are afraid to call the real police.
If anybody was in any doubt, this is the reason why police and other government agents are supposed to identify themselves. It is worse when the behaviour of agents is exactly the same as that of criminals.
As a response, somebody has set up a website that will identify any police officer. You upload a photo and it will tell you their name and number. This is legal because of the useless data protection laws in the US. I can’t imagine the police are too happy about such tools, but it exists for a reason.
This situation did not exist a few months ago. The new regime has created a serious problem out of thin air. It seems their only response is to escalate further.