This city might have demanded that the Thin Blue Line flag be removed from the fire trucks, but the first responders had a witty retort!
It only took a complaint from an offended citizen before the city council demanded that the local fire department remove the Thin Blue Line flags from the trucks, which had expressed support for those in law enforcement. After this demand from the city council, the fire department came up with one response in particular.
There continues to be growing animosity toward individuals who work in law enforcement, and this is making it more difficult for police to do their jobs effectively without fear of retaliation or violence. On a disturbing note, politicians and activists continue to do their level best to turn the profession into a political issue.
Naturally, being a police officer is burdensome enough without the extra chore of criminal violence occurring. When you consider that more and more departments seem to be siding with the would-be criminals, it makes it a profession that is almost untenable for most people.
This leads us to our story, and that would be that the Hingham Fire Department (HFD) in Massachusetts was looking to remember Weymouth Police Sergeant Michael Chesna, a law enforcement professional who didn’t finish his shift one day because someone bashed him in the head with the rock and shot him in the head with his OWN service pistol.
After they received the complaint via email, the Hingham Selectmen’s office caved in to the pressure, and they issued a directive that all fire departments would have to remove the flags from their trucks. City officials claimed that the flags had violated a policy that prohibits political symbolism on all town propeties.To make a long story short though, the HFD eventually grew suspicious of the motives of these officials.
Granted, the city didn’t do themselves any favors here either. They repeatedly failed to produce the policy that the thin blue line had violated, and so the firefighters union issued their own statement vowing to keep the Thin Blue Line on their trucks.
“The flags were recently put on the apparatus leading up to the anniversary of the senseless murder of officer Michael Chesna in our neighboring community of Weymouth,” the union wrote on Facebook. “We continued to fly the flags after the anniversary in support of the law enforcement officers in our own community, as well as all law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day.”
The union attempted to remind the city that the Thin Blue Line symbol is not known as a political, but merely something that has represented police officers as public servants for over a hundred years.
“It has always, and will always, represent the men and women of law enforcement that hold the line between peace and chaos. Especially those who have bravely made the ultimate sacrifice during the performance of these heroic duties,” they wrote. “We stand by our initial statement that this has no political message for one reason, and one reason only, because honoring the sacrifices made by the men and women of law enforcement is not political. Period.”
The city refused to reconsider its decision to have those flags removed, and it put the fire department in a tough situation. However, the HFD soon came up with a plan. Instead of woefully packing away the flags altogether, instead, they simply donated them to the Weymouth Police Department who in turn GAVE THEM RIGHT BACK to the Weymouth Fire Department so that they could yet again fly them on the back of their fire trucks.
“The Thin Blue Line flag from Hingham FD was placed on the rear of Weymouth Engine 3 this morning,” the Weymouth PD confirmed.
Although the city continued to demand that the fire department remove the show of support for their law enforcement colleagues, they failed to rid the fire department of their flags. This would-be liberal coup d’etat did not get off the ground, and this Thin Blue Line continues to wave for all of the citizens of Massachusetts to pay homage to their dedicated police officers.