00:00I'm Ashraf Khalil with the Associated Press. You said earlier this week you mentioned that you had asked Chief Smith to speak to the administration about the idea of the federal officers masking and saying that you didn't see a need for any law enforcement officer to go about their job with covering their face. Has there been a response?
00:23I don't think we've gotten a formal response. And you mentioned a meeting I had with MPD. And one thing that the MPD officer said was, well, we don't wear a mask. No one should be wearing masks. And our officers are identified. They have a badge. They wear body-worn camera. And they are clearly identified to members of the public.
00:52Now, I haven't noticed, I've noticed all the federal officials are wearing their appropriate uniform or vest that identify them and their agency. It appears to be the DHS agencies, not the DOJ agencies that are wearing masks.
01:12Why is it important that they not, that law enforcement, not be going around masks?
01:17Well, I think I would answer it this way. Why do they need masks?
01:22They're federal officials. They're paid by taxpayers. They should be doing their jobs in a way that's lawful and constitutional. And that's part of the job. And so I don't, I don't know why anybody needs to wear a mask.
01:39I mean, I think some people identified in some of these drug type situations that masks could be part of a, you know, a PPE, if you will.
01:48That's, that's not the case in the work that they're doing here.
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