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The Los Angeles Police Department, one of the country’s largest, will no longer display the “thin blue line” flag that is associated with law enforcement after complaints by a resident that it represents extremist points of view.
According to reports, the LAPD will remove the flag from station lobbies after a citizen complained about it, with the police chief caving to the complaint.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore said he disagreed with the community member’s complaint but went on to say that the flag’s “display in our public lobbies can be divisive,” according to a report by Fox11 in L.A.
In a statement, the chief said the public was being manipulated into viewing the flag and law enforcement in general as negative influences in society, despite facts to prove otherwise.
“It’s unfortunate that extremist groups have hijacked the use of the ‘Thin Blue Line Flag’ to symbolize their undemocratic, racist, and bigoted views,” the statement read. “Flags serve as powerful symbols with specific meanings. The ‘Thin Blue Line Flag’ to me presents the honor, valor, dedication, and sacrifice of law enforcement to protect our communities. Tragically, that view is not universally held and others have been able to persuade the public it symbolizes racist, bigoted and oppressive values.”
Moore went on to say that LAPD officers and staff will still be permitted to keep “Thin Blue Line Flag” materials and symbology in their “workspace, locker door, and personal vehicles,” according to the local outlet, which added: “Memorials for fallen officers will also be authorized in all public spaces.”
“Given our lobbies should be places that people feel safe, free of political ideology, and welcoming, it remains our long-standing policy that only official items be displayed,” Moore’s statement concluded.
Just the News noted further: “Moore also said the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) expressed disappointment in his decision to remove the flag. The union group, which represents police officers, called the decision “political pandering” and said people like the one who lodged the complaint have far too much power over the many, and for all the wrong reasons.”
“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,” the Board of directors for the Los Angeles Police Protective League wrote in a statement, according to Fox News Digital. “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.”
Many of the country’s biggest cities, L.A. included, have been beset by crime waves that critics have blamed on far-left district attorneys whose soft-on-crime campaigns were funded in part by billionaire George Soros. In a recent interview, Soros said he had no intention of ending his financial support for such candidates, regardless of the consequences to social cohesion and public safety.
In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Soros said he won’t be cutting back funding anytime soon.
“I have supported the election (and more recently the re-election) of prosecutors who support reform. I have done it transparently, and I have no intention of stopping,” he wrote.
“Our system is rife with injustices that make us all less safe. The idea that we need to choose between justice and safety is false,” he claimed, in spite of hard evidence that crime has gone up significantly in cities whose DAs he helped finance have softened enforcement by curbing prosecutions and seeking far less jail time for a range of offenses.
“They reinforce each other: If people trust the justice system, it will work. And if the system works, public safety will improve,” he wrote.
“Some politicians and pundits have tried to blame recent spikes in crime on the policies of reform-minded prosecutors. The research I’ve seen says otherwise,” Soros went on.
