I remember when I first saw a thin blue line flag sticker on a truck—this was at least 20 years ago, and someone explained to me that Police Benevolent Associations hand them out and relatives put them on their cars so that they can speed and not get pulled over, or not get a ticket. I was probably in college at the time, and didn’t have the awareness of political institutions or corruption or anything that I have acquired since, but I thought: that’s just not right.
Since then the Thin-Blue-Line and Punisher imagery, on flags, t-shirts, and car stickers, which has emerged in the last 2 decades has grown massively, sparked with the valorization of first responders after 9-11 and then accelerating with the militarization of the police (which is really a two-pronged phenomenon of both massive transfers of military equipment, hardware, and gear to local police departments, alongside the increased likelihood that police officers would have served in one of our Endless Wars in Afghanistan or Iraq, and thus trained in military tactics.
Although the militarization of our police came into public discussion when images came out of Ferguson, and was chronicled in Radley Balko’s book published in the same year, nothing changed with police institutions and police accountability, and I just feel that there is something distinctly troubling about the widespread adoption of the Punisher logo and other graphic symbolism which embodies a regard by law enforcement that they exist not as a job but as a distinct culture and all-encompassing identity. This has become further manifested in the #BlueLivesMatter counter-movement, which might have started as whiny responses in Facebook arguments over policing, but actually led to a series of “Blue Lives Matter” state-level legislation in 2016-18, culminating in the Federal “Protect and Serve Act of 2018” which passed through Congress.
There was an article just in the last few days about how Marvel comics is claiming that its hands are tied in reigning in the unauthorized usage of the Punisher logo but I think its adoption is a graphic signal that police see themselves as distinct from and unaccountable to the people that they are supposed to “protect and serve.”
Very interesting. I participated in a peaceful Protest yesterday where the police were so supportive that they physically set up the sound system for the speakers to speak it. I wonder if the difference is that small town departments don't have the same depth of culture and identity so they don't see themselves as the Keepers of The Order. Out local cops see themselves as part of the community, but perhaps NYC and LA cops see themselves as a class apart.
Even in cities, there CAN be cooperative units in police that specifically work with people and protests... in Philly this was the case after the COINTELPRO and protests in the 80s that included illegal police actions. It got a little less 'helpful' following 9/11. AND the republican convention in Philly that followed. And there are some suburban communities, like my county (Delaware), where police have regularly bullied youth... mostly of color, but not only...
The privileged are high up in the social order. this is the difference in policing in White neighborhoods in NYC and LA. The problem is that the privileged never see the other side of policing in communities of color or when a person of color encounters police in a traffic stop or passing a counterfeit $20.00 bill. There is a social hierarchy in police policies and in police actions. The armed terrorist's that confront government officials such as in Michigan and other places are never met with police brutality but if they were Black they would have been murdered like the Black Panthers were. Policing follows a social order.
That is why I'm not sure the analogy will hold true. Our police did the same, they kept the kids safe and helped with 2 marches. I dropped off food this weekend for their food drive. Our contract is intact. They have plenty of support from the community and visa versa. Our biggest issue is people leaving key fobs in their cars. This is mainly a department not individual problem. I actually anticipate a split where good departments eventually speak out, not necessarily because it's the right thing to do, but because they have a good and personally satisfying place in the community and NYC, Buffalo, Minneapolis and others threaten it.
I don't think when push comes to shove that police are very different in the suburbs or small towns. You might ask yourself why it's the police who are running a food drive, rather than, say, the water department or assessor. Police in my small (white) town don't rough people up, but they do intervene in situations where they need not. They're also not transparent and when questions are raised, they get defensive quickly. They know that most "good people" like it when they intimidate the "bad people" who might be in a place that they're "not supposed to be". It's social order everywhere.
The same is true of the Boston suburb where I knew the police chief when he was a responsible helpful Cub Scout. I remember, though, several local kids who went to the police academy and could have got better- paying jobs in Boston or Cambridge but chose to wait until there was a vacancy in a quiet suburb. Maybe large cities are getting some recruits who are different from the helpful people that you and I know.
The recruits you know are very different in an African American community. This is what protest is about. It is time to remove the social hierarchy from policing policies.
For a while now i've been think about the police in terms of the the Roman legions and Praetorians who auctioned off the empire. Or the mercenaries in High Medieval Italy who began to ignore their employers. Or the Mamluks in Egypt. Maybe the New Model Army too. Military forces that escaped control of the "legitimate" authorities but who never achieved legitimacy themselves.
A lot of police forces increasingly seam to only follow civilian authorities when they feel like it. The NYPD seams to ignore de Blasio, the Portland PD Ted Wheeler, the St Paul PD too.
Just curious how you would explain the organized violence in places like Portland and Seattle that seems to be driven by domestic terrorists like Antifa? How does that fit into the narrative? It seems like the legitimate outrage of BLM is being used as a foundation by socialists to attack the country and democracy. It adds a shade of gray to the way our world works. By the way I am listening to your podcast on The Fall of Rome. Outstanding !
Police can be very scary everywhere. As a white social worker advocating for Aboriginal kids in Australia I really had my eyes opened. I lived in a small country town where the police were part of the community and when I started making complaints (because you are so right, Patrick, the truly marginalised never do), my own kids and their friends were targetted. A group of four, including my son, were harassed and then fined. I was at the station the next day complaining and funnily enough the fine for my son never arrived in the mail! Of the other three I advised the other three sets of parents to take it to court. One lot believed their son must be in the wrong if the police had to speak to him and paid and punished him. One lot thought it was easier to pay. One lot took it to court and had the charges dismissed and the magistrate made a complaint to the minister about both the behaviour of the officers concerned and the fact that they had not followed procedure. When you challenge the system, the ripples can run deep. Not surprisingly all those young people (now in mid 30s) have a deep suspicion of the police.
I had the pleasure to live in the Louisville, KY for 3 years. Coming from the NJ.NY.PA area, it was refreshing to see everyone getting along. There were many, many, interracial families; and it was really no big deal. Everyone got along better than back east; and I was amazed.
When I saw the people, both black and white, surround the cop, in front of the store/restaurant; and link arms....I knew it was Louisville...before they even announced it.
I remember when I first saw a thin blue line flag sticker on a truck—this was at least 20 years ago, and someone explained to me that Police Benevolent Associations hand them out and relatives put them on their cars so that they can speed and not get pulled over, or not get a ticket. I was probably in college at the time, and didn’t have the awareness of political institutions or corruption or anything that I have acquired since, but I thought: that’s just not right.
Since then the Thin-Blue-Line and Punisher imagery, on flags, t-shirts, and car stickers, which has emerged in the last 2 decades has grown massively, sparked with the valorization of first responders after 9-11 and then accelerating with the militarization of the police (which is really a two-pronged phenomenon of both massive transfers of military equipment, hardware, and gear to local police departments, alongside the increased likelihood that police officers would have served in one of our Endless Wars in Afghanistan or Iraq, and thus trained in military tactics.
Although the militarization of our police came into public discussion when images came out of Ferguson, and was chronicled in Radley Balko’s book published in the same year, nothing changed with police institutions and police accountability, and I just feel that there is something distinctly troubling about the widespread adoption of the Punisher logo and other graphic symbolism which embodies a regard by law enforcement that they exist not as a job but as a distinct culture and all-encompassing identity. This has become further manifested in the #BlueLivesMatter counter-movement, which might have started as whiny responses in Facebook arguments over policing, but actually led to a series of “Blue Lives Matter” state-level legislation in 2016-18, culminating in the Federal “Protect and Serve Act of 2018” which passed through Congress.
There was an article just in the last few days about how Marvel comics is claiming that its hands are tied in reigning in the unauthorized usage of the Punisher logo but I think its adoption is a graphic signal that police see themselves as distinct from and unaccountable to the people that they are supposed to “protect and serve.”
Very interesting. I participated in a peaceful Protest yesterday where the police were so supportive that they physically set up the sound system for the speakers to speak it. I wonder if the difference is that small town departments don't have the same depth of culture and identity so they don't see themselves as the Keepers of The Order. Out local cops see themselves as part of the community, but perhaps NYC and LA cops see themselves as a class apart.
Even in cities, there CAN be cooperative units in police that specifically work with people and protests... in Philly this was the case after the COINTELPRO and protests in the 80s that included illegal police actions. It got a little less 'helpful' following 9/11. AND the republican convention in Philly that followed. And there are some suburban communities, like my county (Delaware), where police have regularly bullied youth... mostly of color, but not only...
The privileged are high up in the social order. this is the difference in policing in White neighborhoods in NYC and LA. The problem is that the privileged never see the other side of policing in communities of color or when a person of color encounters police in a traffic stop or passing a counterfeit $20.00 bill. There is a social hierarchy in police policies and in police actions. The armed terrorist's that confront government officials such as in Michigan and other places are never met with police brutality but if they were Black they would have been murdered like the Black Panthers were. Policing follows a social order.
That is why I'm not sure the analogy will hold true. Our police did the same, they kept the kids safe and helped with 2 marches. I dropped off food this weekend for their food drive. Our contract is intact. They have plenty of support from the community and visa versa. Our biggest issue is people leaving key fobs in their cars. This is mainly a department not individual problem. I actually anticipate a split where good departments eventually speak out, not necessarily because it's the right thing to do, but because they have a good and personally satisfying place in the community and NYC, Buffalo, Minneapolis and others threaten it.
I don't think when push comes to shove that police are very different in the suburbs or small towns. You might ask yourself why it's the police who are running a food drive, rather than, say, the water department or assessor. Police in my small (white) town don't rough people up, but they do intervene in situations where they need not. They're also not transparent and when questions are raised, they get defensive quickly. They know that most "good people" like it when they intimidate the "bad people" who might be in a place that they're "not supposed to be". It's social order everywhere.
The same is true of the Boston suburb where I knew the police chief when he was a responsible helpful Cub Scout. I remember, though, several local kids who went to the police academy and could have got better- paying jobs in Boston or Cambridge but chose to wait until there was a vacancy in a quiet suburb. Maybe large cities are getting some recruits who are different from the helpful people that you and I know.
The recruits you know are very different in an African American community. This is what protest is about. It is time to remove the social hierarchy from policing policies.
For a while now i've been think about the police in terms of the the Roman legions and Praetorians who auctioned off the empire. Or the mercenaries in High Medieval Italy who began to ignore their employers. Or the Mamluks in Egypt. Maybe the New Model Army too. Military forces that escaped control of the "legitimate" authorities but who never achieved legitimacy themselves.
A lot of police forces increasingly seam to only follow civilian authorities when they feel like it. The NYPD seams to ignore de Blasio, the Portland PD Ted Wheeler, the St Paul PD too.
Just curious how you would explain the organized violence in places like Portland and Seattle that seems to be driven by domestic terrorists like Antifa? How does that fit into the narrative? It seems like the legitimate outrage of BLM is being used as a foundation by socialists to attack the country and democracy. It adds a shade of gray to the way our world works. By the way I am listening to your podcast on The Fall of Rome. Outstanding !
Police can be very scary everywhere. As a white social worker advocating for Aboriginal kids in Australia I really had my eyes opened. I lived in a small country town where the police were part of the community and when I started making complaints (because you are so right, Patrick, the truly marginalised never do), my own kids and their friends were targetted. A group of four, including my son, were harassed and then fined. I was at the station the next day complaining and funnily enough the fine for my son never arrived in the mail! Of the other three I advised the other three sets of parents to take it to court. One lot believed their son must be in the wrong if the police had to speak to him and paid and punished him. One lot thought it was easier to pay. One lot took it to court and had the charges dismissed and the magistrate made a complaint to the minister about both the behaviour of the officers concerned and the fact that they had not followed procedure. When you challenge the system, the ripples can run deep. Not surprisingly all those young people (now in mid 30s) have a deep suspicion of the police.
excellent review and thank you for interpretation. IMHO neatly puts things in perspective.
This is great, Patrick.
I had the pleasure to live in the Louisville, KY for 3 years. Coming from the NJ.NY.PA area, it was refreshing to see everyone getting along. There were many, many, interracial families; and it was really no big deal. Everyone got along better than back east; and I was amazed.
When I saw the people, both black and white, surround the cop, in front of the store/restaurant; and link arms....I knew it was Louisville...before they even announced it.
last line addition: Until of course...the revolution.
Awesome. Well written.
This is absolutely beautiful Patrick. Thank you.