A chief constable has offered to pay out of his own pocket so that his officers can wear the Thin Blue Line badge after the symbol remembering fallen colleagues was banned by the Met Police at Pride.
Northamptonshire Chief Constable Nick Adderley – who lost two officers in a gun and grenade attack almost 11 years ago – said he would not allow a minority to ‘twist the meaning’ of the patch.
Officers policing London Pride earlier this month were ordered by Met commanders not to wear the emblem – which features a black-and-white Union flag with a thin horizontal blue line – as they claimed it has become ‘linked to far-Right and anti-trans groups in the US’.
The move sparked fury from families of officers who have been killed in the line of duty and prompted Home Secretary Suella Braverman to demand answers from the Met over why the ban was implemented.
The badge is intended as ‘a mark of remembrance and respect’ for those who paid the ultimate price to maintain law and order, but a similar symbol, based on the American Stars and Stripes, has been linked to transphobic far-Right groups in the US.
Defending the badge on Twitter, Mr Adderley said: ‘I have offered to pay for the patch, for my officers and staff, (my own money, not tax payers) if they wish to wear it as I am determined never to allow a minority to twist the meaning of this patch, which risks the memory of fallen officers being driven into an abyss hushed tones.’
Met Police officers were banned from wearing a badge (pictured in centre of officer’s chest) commemorating colleagues killed in the line of duty at Pride
Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable Nick Adderley (pictured) – who lost two officers in the line of duty – has offered to pay out of his own pocket so his officers can wear the Thin Blue Line badge
Mr Adderley offered to pay for the patch for his staff to wear with ‘pride as a mark of respect to fallen officers’
In a separate tweet, the chief constable said that he would encourage his officers to wear the patch ‘with pride as a mark of respect to fallen officers’.
What is the Thin Blue Line badge?
The Thin Blue Line badge is intended as ‘a mark of remembrance and respect’ for those who paid the ultimate price to maintain law and order.
However a similar symbol, based on the American Stars and Stripes, has been linked to transphobic far-Right groups in the US.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley defended the decision to ban officers from wearing the badge at Pride this month, but families of officers killed in the line of duty reacted angrily.
Mr Adderley’s impassioned defence of the badge likely comes from his own first-hand experience after two of his constables – Nicola Hughes, 23, and Fiona Bone, 32 – were killed in the line of duty by criminal Dale Cregan on September 18, 2012.
Fugitive Cregan lured unarmed Greater Manchester PCs Hughes and Bone to a property with a hoax 999 call and when they responded to the report of a burglary, he shot both women at least eight times before throwing a grenade at them.
Mr Adderley was a chief superintendent with Greater Manchester Police at the time.
Cregan, who was already on the run for the murders of David, 46, and Mark Short, 23, at the time of the killings, is serving a whole life sentence behind bars.
Despite backlash from families of fallen officers including murdered police constable Andrew Harper, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley defended his decision as he labelled the badge ‘contentious’.
Speaking to City Hall’s Police and Crime Committee this week, Sir Mark said that in the US, the similar symbol ‘has ended up being both a policing symbol and is being used by some hard-right groups’.
‘That’s why this is a tricky territory. This is contentious,’ he said.
‘I do understand that officers care deeply and they want to show how they care about their colleagues and that creates a bit of tension, and we’re discussing it in the organisation,’ Sir Mark added.
Families of fallen officers reacted angrily to the ban (Pictured: PC Andrew Harper who died in the line of duty in 2019)
Police officers Fiona Bone (left) and Nicola Hughes (right) were killed while on duty in 2012 by Dale Cregan. Their chief superintendent at the time was Mr Adderley
Dale Cregan (pictured) is serving a life sentence for the murders. He shot both women at least eight times before throwing a grenade at them
Officer were banned from wearing the black-and-white Union flag with a thin horizontal blue line if working at Pride celebrations in London (Pictured: Police at the London Pride March on July 1)
In an impassioned defence of the British badge, Debbie Adlam, the mother of Andrew Harper, told The Mail on Sunday that it was a symbol of her son’s ‘dedication to the force’.
‘Since we lost Andrew we have considered the Thin Blue Line image to be a universal memorial to the loss of these officers,’ she said.
In a murder that shocked the nation, PC Harper, 28, was dragged to his death by teenagers in a getaway car after a burglary in Berkshire in 2019.
His mother Debbie added: ‘It concerns me that there are those who want to take [the badge] away. I hope that today is not the start of the end for the Thin Blue Line and all it means to us in the UK.’
Politicians, senior officers and campaigners also condemned the decision. One former officer, Henry Miller, said the Met had ‘lost their minds over this’.
Mr Miller, who founded the free speech campaign group Fair Cop, added: ‘Nobody in this country says that the Thin Blue Line is political. It’s completely crazy. We have seen officers wearing all kinds of insignia associated with political causes, none of which they should do.
‘But the one thing that police should be able to do is memorialise their own colleagues.’
PC Harper (pictured), 28, was dragged to his death by teenagers in a getaway car after a burglary in Berkshire in 2019. His mother Debbie said the badge was a symbol of her son’s ‘dedication to the force’
Despite backlash from families of fallen officers including murdered police constable Andrew Harper, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley defended his decision as he labelled the badge ‘contentious’
Despite the link to far-Right groups in the US, in Britain the badge (pictured) has been worn by officers since around 2015, and never been politicised
Former Home Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘This is the result of vested interest groups imposing political correction and false narratives on our hard-working police officers.’ She added that the badge was ‘a mark of respect in policing of the sacrifices our police officers make for their service and the threats they face, day in, day out’.
Current Home Secretary Ms Braverman requested more information from the Met over why it banned officers from wearing the emblem – despite other forces allowing it.
A source close to Ms Braverman said: ‘The Home Secretary has concerns at the reported reasoning for officers being unable to wear the Thin Blue Line badge in honour of colleagues who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
‘She has asked for more information to understand what’s happened.’
Despite the link to far-Right groups in the US, in Britain the badge has been worn by officers since around 2015, and never been politicised.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk