The Thin Blue Line flag was banned from being displayed in public by the Los Angeles Police Department after the department received complaints about the flag purportedly representing “violent, extremist views.”
On Friday (January 13), Micheal Moore, the Chief of the LAPD, defended the decision in an email to Fox News Digital, according to reporting by the news outlet.
Moore indicated that on Thursday (January 12), the department “received a community complaint” regarding the “presence of a Blue Line Flag.”
Moore explained the complaint expressed a belief that the flag “symbolized support for violent extremist views,” purported by groups like the “Proud Boys and others.”
The chief of police then revealed that he authorized the Blue Line Flag to be removed from the public lobby.
He added that the U.S. Flag should be on prominent display in U.S. Police quarters “wherever possible,” in addition to “Memorials for our fallen,” which are also permitted in public spaces.
Moore relayed that the flag spurring the complaint was displayed in one police department’s lobby, expressing his disappointment that the flag had been hijacked by “extremist groups… to symbolize their undemocratic, racist, and bigoted views.”
The LAPD chief only ordered that the flag be removed from public spaces, explaining the officers could still display the flag in their personal vehicles, locker doors, and workspaces.
Moore then asserted that he viewed the flags as a symbol of law enforcement’s “honor, valor, dedication, and sacrifice” in protecting the communities they serve while expressing disappointment that some had chosen to stain the flag with their “racist, bigoted and oppressive values.”
