Tone-deaf antics from some Ferguson police officers have forced the Justice Department to intervene in the Missouri town.

After reports surfaced that police in Ferguson had been spotted wearing “I am Darren Wilson” bracelets in support of the police officer who shot an unarmed black 18-year old last month, DOJ Civil Rights Division ordered the Ferguson Police Chief to prohibit his officers from wearing the bracelets while in uniform and on duty, and to ensure that other local police agencies did the same.

“Ferguson residents told Department of Justice Civil Rights Division officials during our community interviews on Wednesday evening that law enforcement officers policing at protest sites in Ferguson on Tuesday were wearing these bracelets,” wrote Christy Lopez, deputy chief of the special litigation section of the DOJ Civil Rights Division, in a letter to Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson. “Residents observed that these bracelets upset and agitated people. We were shown pictures of officers wearing these bracelets.”

Even more disturbingly, according to the letter, some of the officers sporting the bracelets also had black tape over their name plates, which law enforcement experts agree undermines transparency and accountability, and makes it near impossible for the public to identify officers if they engage in misconduct. DOJ, understandably, sought to put a stop to this practice immediately.

“The practice of not wearing, or obscuring, name plates violates your own department’s policies, which we advised you earlier this week when we requested that you end the practice immediately,” wrote Lopez.

In that earlier letter to Chief Jackson, DOJ noted that wearing identifiable name badges “is a near-universal requirement of sound policing practices and required under some state laws… The failure to wear name plates. conveys a message to community members that, through anonymity, officers may seek to act with impunity.”