Some Milwaukee police officers can been seen in this photo with their lapel name tags covered while others left them uncovered outside of a protest Sunday at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Students and others were protesting the rental of a UWM facility to the Donald Trump presidential campaign. Credit: ACLU of Wisconsin

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The Milwaukee Police Department has launched an investigation into officers who covered up their name tags in apparent violation of department policy during a protest outside the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee over the weekend.

Photos provided Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin show some officers covering their name tags entirely. In response, a police spokesman said Chief Edward Flynn has issued a directive for "immediate corrective action" to prevent future violations and initiated an investigation.

Officers are permitted to replace their name tag with a unique identifying number when policing in a protest, demonstration or rally type of deployment.

That policy was developed several years ago after occurrences of identity theft and personal threats to officers and their families after major demonstrations nationwide, according to a police spokesman.

Chris Ahmuty, ACLU of Wisconsin executive director, said officers' actions on Sunday were a "flagrant violation of an MPD policy that is already weak and rarely enforced."

"By covering up their name tags, the officers communicated an implicit threat that they may engage in practices for which they do not want to be held accountable," Ahmuty said.

Demonstrators gathered on campus Sunday afternoon to protest UWM renting the Mainstage Theatre to Fox News for a Donald Trump town hall event.

Several faculty members also publicly opposed the university's decision to rent the space. UWM English professor Richard Grusin said in an open letter to UWM Chancellor Mark Mone that "all UWM community members who oppose Trump's poisonous values have a right to protest him if he comes to campus."

"The racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, and fascist ideas and policies that Trump has expressed during his campaign are antithetical to the cultural and political values on which the University of Wisconsin in general and UW-Milwaukee in particular are founded," Grusin said.