Government

Can Undercover Officers De-Escalate Tensions at Protests?

That's not what happened in Oakland Wednesday, when an outed officer drew his gun on demonstrators and press.
An undercover agent pulls a firearm on protesters in Oakland on December 10.Noah Berger/Reuters

An undercover law-enforcement officer revealed himself to protesters in Oakland in the most dramatic way possible Wednesday night: By drawing his gun on them.

That pretty much put an end to the demonstration, which had begun in Berkeley and included some 200 people. But the story doesn't end there. According to Oakland police commander Lt. Chris Bolton, that undercover officer isn't an Oakland Police Department officer at all, but rather an officer from the California Highway Patrol.