Montreal police introduce new patch to replace controversial ‘thin blue line’
Montreal police have introduced a new patch to replace a symbol that many officers have worn on their uniforms to honour fallen colleagues but that has become associated with the far right.
Police Chief Fady Dagher said Wednesday that the controversial thin blue line symbol, depicting a black and white Canadian flag divided by a blue horizontal stripe, is worn by about 10 to 15 per cent of Montreal officers.
Some who wear it say it’s an expression of solidarity with police who have died on duty, but the symbol has become associated with Blue Lives Matter — a term used by some police supporters in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. It has also been criticized as a symbol of white supremacy.
Dagher said the switch is necessary to instil trust and display neutrality. The new circular patch contains the words “fallen but never forgotten” in French around the police force’s coat of arms. The new patch still features a blue line, but it forms a circle rather than a dividing line.
“The thin blue line (symbol) was contaminated by the extreme right in the United States,” said Dagher, pointing out that the American version of it was used by rioters at the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
But despite a portion of his officers wearing a symbol publicly embraced by hate groups, Dagher said there isn’t a problem of right-wing extremism within the department’s ranks. He said officers he has spoken to about it were surprised to learn about the patch’s history.
Sociologist Frédéric Boisrond, who has served as an external consultant to the force on questions of public perception and racial discrimination, said it is “totally unacceptable” and “very insulting” that some officers still choose to wear a symbol that has been embraced by hate groups, including white nationalists at the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, rally in 2017.
However, it may be many months before patches are swapped. The police department will allow a transition period for officers to make the switch before the change is enforced after the summer.