Thin Blue Line
According to Wikipedia, The Thin Blue Line is a controversial symbol that Law
Enforcement Officers in the United
States use to identify other officers, their spouses and other family members.
Regarding its usage Wikipedia says The Thin Blue Line emblem is often seen on vehicles — near the rear license plate or rear window — with the assumption that the operator or owner is either an active or retired Law Enforcement Officer, or the relative of same. Presumably personal vehicles bearing the symbol will be treated with respect and personal courtesy that they otherwise would not be afforded.
Now obviously it’s a shame to think that you have to put a sticker on your car to be treated with respect and personal courtesy, but the real controversy is favoritism. I’m not naive I can see where a officer would want special attention/consideration given to himself/herself or their family member if pulled over for a traffic stop. Yet does it also mean that if you have this sticker on your car that you can drive with no regard for public safety.
Just this morning alone I saw three cars, all of which were displaying the Thin Blue Line sticker, make unsafe lane changes. Yes there are imposters who have reproduced these stickers and have no relation to law enforcement, but I don’t think that they are the only bad drivers.
Issue new stickers that show a serial number at the bottom that can link that sticker to a officers badge number. It might not cut down on the number of frauds, but when stopped and an officer runs that serial number then the frauds will be caught.
November 5th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
A serial number on a thin blue line sticker will not work, nor can it ever be acheived. The data base to hold that kind of information would be huge, much less every law enforcement agancy tied into it? Not happening. The reason for the sticker is so that law enforcement officers do not have to have a F.O.P. tag on their vehicle. This take the place of it. Every current or retired law enforcement officer carries ID with him/her anyway, so the serial number thing is not needed. The only other people having this sticker is their immeadiate family, such as wife, or child, not others. Brothers, sisters, parents, it’s not intended for that. As for your experience, those people are wanna be’s, and you will find that everywhere. Don’t bash the sticker and what it stands for just because you see a few bad apples.
November 5th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
“Every current or retired law enforcement officer carries ID with him/her anyway”
The bad apples will be busted. Sweet!
Thanks for the advice and knowledge Randy.
December 6th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
we carry a revised thin blue line sticker and invite every law enforcement officer to join us free of charge we promote the brother and sisterhood of the profession. It is not about getting out of tickets, it is to honor the brother and sister officers whom gave their lives in the line of duty. Build a stronger bond between our departments. http://www.thinblueline.8m.com please pay us a visit.
December 6th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Wow!
As you can see Wikipedia has steered me in the wrong direction. When searching on “Thin Blue Line” I know see more informative results. All that was listed before was the wiki entry and some other links. Now I see that its about togetherness and never forgetting the fallen heros.
Thanks for the info, Tom.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I spraypaint every car I see with these stickers. Two stripes. . .one across the blue, one on the license plate.
The first, across the blue, is symbolic. Since you short dick pigs sit around and think up more bs reasons to have this sticker. . . it took all of 3 seconds to figure out that if you obscure the blue, you’ve made the nation and the world whole again. All men created equal. Brilliant huh?
The second line is a sovereign enforced punishment. . . get a new license plate, perhaps it will stop you from beating another innocent person today.
Enjoy, and you’re quite welcome!