[kstrauser]

No, the worst case is that people start suspecting innocent workmen of being undercover cops and enacting street justice against them. Now a meth dealer who's been awake for three days has a legitimate reason to think that the cable guy might be a cop.

This is why Doctors Without Borders gets pissed off when the CIA poses as healthcare workers. This is why the Geneva Convention specifies that medical personnel - and only medical personnel - wear a red cross to identify them as noncombatants. Someone at the FBI probably thought this was a grand idea, while utility workers are now more likely to be victims of violent crime because of it. Great job, guys.

[rosser]

Externalized costs are, like, totally someone else's problem, man.