When Justice Douglas Thompson refused to extend an injunction against old-growth defenders blocking a logging road at Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island, his decision made headlines around the world.
Justice Thompson referred explicitly in his decision to “enforcement […] carried out by police officers rendered anonymous to the protesters, many of those police officers wearing ‘thin blue line’ badges.” The significance of this language may not be clear to every reader; but the judge’s reasoning was important — to more than just the struggle over the fate of the pathetic remnants (one or two percent) of BC’s old-growth forests.
The judge raised crucial and timely questions about the culture and practise of police work.
What is the Thin Blue Line?
The “thin blue line” symbol worn by police officers has a long history. Derived from the “thin red line” of Scottish Highlanders who stood their ground in terrifying circumstances during the Crimean War, by 1922 the phrase had been used in the US to describe police officers. By the early 50’s, LAPD police chief Bill Parker used it often as a rhetorical device, conceptualising the police force as “the thin blue line” that stands its ground between a virtuous citizenry and an onslaught of violence and anarchy.
Today the symbol has acquired less heroic meanings. In 2018 a law review article noted that it can mean the code of silence by which police officers cover up for each other’s misconduct. And by 2014 it had become the rallying symbol of “Blue Lives Matter,” a backlash directed against the Black Lives Matter protests.
In the context of intensifying protests against racial bias in policing, and specifically against the murders of Black Americans by their own police forces, the Thin Blue Line quickly became associated with anti-BLM sentiment and hence with American White Supremacist ideology. White Supremacists began to display the symbol on their web sites and in person, at rallies and marches.
RCMP ban on wearing of the symbol by on-duty officers
Police officers are in general not encouraged to modify their uniforms by adding “loyalty symbols” of any other organisation or group. Recognising the inflammatory potential of the Thin Blue Line symbol, RCMP in October 2020 issued a directive banning officers on duty from wearing the symbol. In response, the police union defied orders by providing its members with Thin Blue Line patches to wear.
Individual municipalities such as Victoria and Saanich have felt the need for directives banning the wearing of the controversial emblem. RCMP officers throughout Canada continue, however, to defy the October 2020 ban. Many of the officers arresting (and mistreating) protesters at Fairy Creek were seen by eyewitnesses and in photographs wearing the Thin Blue Line badge.
How different it was in 1985 at Lyell Island
The militarisation of civilian police forces is a topic of great concern to many people worldwide. The development of special “insider” badges and symbols within a police force — especially symbols drawn from military history and carrying a weight of martial legend — is one symptom of the trend.
Most experts in police relations warn of the dangers of allowing police to develop an Us/Them mindset with regard to civilians. At Fairy Creek, some officers resorted to unnecessary force and violence that was never seen during the equally controversial and more famous protests in 1985 that saved Lyell Island from clearcutting.
“Police were spending a lot of time at our camp because I think we had the better grub,” he [Guujaaw] added. “They were doing their part, chopping wood and getting along with everyone.”
A far cry from the policing that was witnessed at Fairy Creek and critiqued by a courageous and principled judge. The RCMP has changed its tactics in the intervening years, and it appears not for the better.
Militarisation of police forces a growing concern
Even had it not been appropriated by White Supremacists, the Thin Blue Line badge represents a re-conceptualisation of policing as warfare. It adopts a metaphor drawn from an army’s heroic last-ditch stand against enemy forces, a “shootout”. It suggests that the officers’ highest duty is not to keep the peace and make sure no one gets hurt, but to wage battle against an existential enemy; not to bring lawbreakers unharmed to a fair trial, but to punish them on the spot.
Combining this kind of righteous wannabe-warrior symbolism with increasingly militarised uniforms and equipment, many have pointed out, tends to increase the likelihood of police violence against unarmed civilians — the “disgusting lapses in crowd control” which Judge Thompson deplored. Not all officers will fall prey to the temptation to see lawbreakers (however harmless) as The Enemy; but some will.
The result of increasingly violent, warlike policing is not, as the officers involved apparently hope, the intimidation and suppression of criminal activity. Militarisation of policing does not increase police safety or reduce crime; it only alienates the public from the police and vice versa.
The Police Union responds to the court’s decision
Only hours after Judge Thompson’s decision, the police union president Brian Sauvé made a public statement:
“We are very proud of our members’ professional, thoughtful and patient approach to enforcing the expired Fairy Creek injunction … In many circumstances and on many occasions over the last 133 days, they have embodied the thin blue line between order and chaos.”
Eyewitness testimony and video taken at the scene suggest otherwise. At Lyell Island, police behaviour did indeed embody the best of humane, community-centred law enforcement. A generation later, at Fairy Creek? Not so much.
Notes
Interested readers may wish to review the online archive of Blue Line Magazine, the Canadian magazine for law enforcement personnel. It seems worthwhile for civilian citizens to mull over the degree of militarisation found in images over the years (both content and advertising) — not to mention the the use of the “blue line” metaphor as the title of so influential and widely-read a professional publication.
Cortes Currents reached out to RCMP public relations officers for commentary on the wearing of the Thin Blue Line by officers at Fairy Creek; we have not yet received a response. If a response is received, this article will be updated.
[Photo Montage by author, from: Toronto Public Library Archives, RCMP Officer 1994; CBC Photographer Adam van der Zwan, RCMP Officers at Fairy Creek; RainForest Flying Squad (facebook feed), Thin Blue Line Patch at Fairy Creek]
This article was originally published by Cortes Currents on October 8, 2021, and an audio version made for the October 14th broadcast over Cortes Radio.
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