Prior to this week I had never thought much about the Thin Blue Line flag. Like everyone else I’ve seen it thousands of times but I was unaware of the origin or the meaning behind the flag. It’s just one of those things in the background of the movie that I saw every day but never really looked closely at.
That changed last week when the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief of Police (Michel Moore
) removed the Thin Blue Line flag from LAPD offices and stated, "Yesterday, we received a community complaint of the presence of a Blue Line Flag" with "the view that it symbolized support for violent extremist views, such as those represented by the Proud Boys and others” "I directed to have the item taken down from the public lobby.”What?
Ok. Now. We have to pay attention.
Framework
If the Thin Blue Line flag (or any other symbol/object) is racist or exudes support for violent extremism - then of course the item should not be displayed in public buildings. It would be difficult to find opposition to this point of view.
The Question
So, the relevant question has to be:
Does the Thin Blue Line flag symbolize support for violent extremist views?
The History
According to Chief Joel Shultz, Ed.d in an interesting article on Police1, “The most reliable account of the origin of the thin blue line is the story of the thin red line. A red-coated Scottish regiment of the British Army during the Crimean War heroically stood, outnumbered, against repeated Russian attacks. This effort of the 1854 battle, most notably associated with Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “Charge of the Light Brigade” was described by the British press as the thin red line. The idea of a line of brave defenders standing between peace and chaos was borrowed by law enforcement whose typically blue uniforms were testimony to true blue loyalty and steadfastness.”
In 2014 the addition of the blue line symbol to a flag is claimed by Thin Blue Line USA, and is attributed to (then-college student) Andrew Jacob. Mr. Jacob wanted to show support for law enforcement after attending a memorial for a fallen officer. The Thin Blue Line flag features a black and white image of the American flag with the horizontal stripe underneath the field of white stars on the black background. The stars represent the people who stand for justice and order. The darkness represents chaos, anarchy, as well as a memorial to the deaths of the law enforcement officers who have perished in the line of duty.
According to Mr. Jacob, “The flag has no association with racism, hatred, bigotry,” “It’s a flag to show support for law enforcement—no politics involved.”
Recent Use of the Flag
Violence against police officers increases every year. Hundreds of officers die in the line of duty and thousands are assaulted and attacked every year. It should not be surprising that a public campaign in support of police arose in response to multiple national news stories on this topic.
For example the Thin Blue Line flag was used widely in 2016 after a Black Lives Matter supporter ambushed and killed four Dallas police officers during a sniper attack. The unsuspecting officers were providing security and protecting the right to protest when they were killed. In the 2010’s violence against police became so rampant that some states passed laws that categorized physical attacks on law enforcement officers as hate crimes.
The Thin Blue Line flag is often purposely and outwardly displayed after an officer is killed in the line of duty.
The Thin Blue Line flag is never purposely displayed after an officer is involved in an officer-involved-shooting and is uninjured.
The Thin Blue Line flag is never purposely displayed after tragic and/or criminal incidents (ie. the George Floyd case).
Therefore, the available evidence would lead a reasonable person to believe that the Thin Blue Line flag is a symbol of support for police officers and not a symbol of support for violent extremism.
Not Just LAPD
LAPD is not the only department where this controversy has occurred. In May of 2020, during the pandemic, the San Francisco police union provided masks for officers. The masks had a Thin Blue Line flag on them. SF Police Chief Bill Scott promptly ordered officers to not wear the masks - after receiving complaints from activists.
However, Chief Scott also acknowledged the Thin Blue Line symbol dated back three decades and was adopted by the National Law Enforcement Officers' Memorial, and called it a "meaningful expression to honor fallen officers."
This is another situation where the Chief of Police recognized that the Thin Blue Line symbol is to honor fallen officers and not a symbol of hate or violence. Despite the facts that Chief Scott knows to be true - he/the mayor gave in to the dishonest, uninformed, and woke mob.
Dishonest Critics (again)
Perhaps you thought that the warnings and advice to police leaders in our previous article Dishonest Critics was overstated. If anything, I understated the willingness of police leaders to cower to anti-police activists.
In short, the main point was that Honest Critics of police ask questions and want to truly understand why police officers do certain things - with the intent to foster a safer community with professional police. Police leaders should dedicate time and resources to build bonds with these people - as they share similar values and want a better community for everyone.
Dishonest Critics have no interest in a dialogue with police leaders and do not ask questions. They make illogical statements and loud demands based on hyperbole and are immune to facts, data, or research. Their efforts are to further the goal of defunding police and destabilizing communities - for insane political agendas or profit. Essentially, anti-police activists are successful when the police department fails and the community is left in violent tatters. These people should be ignored.
This Thin Blue Line controversy in LA is an example of a Chief of Police listening to the loudest and most dishonest members of society. This is the danger of cowering to the woke mob. Today it is just a flag, but what will the response be from the LAPD Chief when these same Dishonest Critics demand that police officers not carry guns or demand defunding of the entire police department?
It should be noted that generally the Chief of Police serves at the discretion of the city mayor. A Chief of Police may have great ideas and be a strong leader, but he/she literally has to do exactly what the mayor wants and if they don’t the mayor will replace them with someone who will. This is not a blanket defense of police chief’s but context is important. Therefore, it is unknown if removing the flag was really Chief Moore’s decision or if he was following orders from the mayor’s office. This is also why I prefer the Sheriff model to lead law enforcement agencies. With a Sheriff, a person is elected to run the law enforcement agency and is directly accountable to the voters on the issues of crime and policing.
What Do the Cops Say?
The union that represents LAPD officers did not mince words after the decision from the Chief, "It is difficult to express the level of utter disgust and disappointment with Chief Moore’s politically pandering directive to remove Thin Blue Line flags and memorials for fallen officers from all public areas within our police stations. This direction came as a result of complaints from anti-police, criminal apologists, and activists who hold too much sway over our city leaders and, unfortunately, our Chief," the Board of directors for the Los Angeles Police Protective League wrote in a statement.
Some police unions tip-toe around controversial topics. Whether you agree or not - the honesty is refreshing.
The “Proud Boys” Connection
The argument from anti-police activists and echoed by Chief Moore is that the Thin Blue Line flag, “symbolized support for violent extremist views, such as those represented by the Proud Boys.”
In fairness the Chief also went on to say, that he personally viewed the flag as symbolizing "the honor, valor, dedication, and sacrifice of law enforcement to protect our communities," but that others had undermined the flag with their "racist, bigoted and oppressive values."
So, Chief Moore admits that in reality the Thin Blue Line flag symbolizes honor, valor, and the sacrifice that police have made to the community. But, because some extremist groups also have displayed the flag - that the actual meaning of what the flag represents has changed?
This makes about as much sense as Chief Moore banning officers from eating pizza on-duty because pizza is a favorite dish of the “alt-right”.
If members of the Proud Boys started to exclusively drive Ford Explorers to their insane rallies - should police departments around the country cancel their orders with manufacturers for new police vehicles and switch to the Chevy Tahoe?
I care about reality, not what is going on inside the most diseased minds in our society. I am simply asking for objectivity - either the Thin Blue Line flag has a long history of symbolizing racism and violence - or it doesn’t. It really is that simple.
More Thoughts on the Proud Boys
I thought that the Proud Boys and other far-right groups were responsible for the January 6th riot - where dozens of Capital Police officers were threatened and assaulted. We have seen the videos - it was horrific how police officers were treated by the mob.
So, the Proud Boys both:
Viciously attacked police on 1/6. and,
Have such a deep appreciation for police that they have overtaken the Thin Blue Line flag as an homage to law enforcement.
It would take a substantial amount of mental gymnastics to make any sense of this.
Now, I realize - that I am looking for intellectual honesty in the least likely place to find it - with extremists on the far-right and the far-left and the weak politicians in the middle who are meekly trying to remain in power and have zero backbone or underlying principles to base their decisions.
side note **If someone attacks a police officer - they should be arrested, charged, prosecuted, and jailed for at least a year. Whether the attack was based on the insane beliefs in Q’Anon or the lie that police are “systematically racist” - it doesn’t matter. Let’s punish the illegal behavior - no matter what bad idea motivated it.**
Final Thoughts
I really just have one more thing to say on this topic.
The Proud Boys also routinely display American flags. They carried the flag of our nation as they rioted, attacked police officers, and tried (but failed) to disrupt our legal election process on January 6th.
What will weak-minded and easily influenced police chiefs and mayors do when these same anti-police activists demand that the American flag be removed from city buildings? Haven’t the Proud Boys “hijacked” the American flag as well?
No. Not that “Michael Moore”. LA hasn’t gone that crazy (yet).
These are actual demands from anti-police activist groups.
We could come up with ridiculous examples all day, but you get the point.
Just another spinless political hack who has no right to be a leader in our profession
This is disgusting. How long will we , the silent majority, allow the LOUD minority to keep winning?