My brothers and sisters in Law Enforcement are free to share this - [not that I'm LE, but this was posted on Facebook, the very place UMass police caution people about using]
Time to set the record straight!
I have recently learned that there are some people out there who are declaring that the Thin Blue Line symbol and it's variations are symbols of Nazi supporters, Fascists, and Alt-Right groups. There are two ways to look at this- 1: This ISN'T really being used by these groups, but the people who are saying this is know that this symbol is used by Law Enforcement and its supporters, and are trying to intentionally cause a divide between LEO's and their community partners. Or 2- this IS the case and these groups are trying to change the interpretation and meaning of these symbols, from something good to something evil.
Either way, know this - If you see me with a Thin Blue Line symbol on my vehicle, or on my clothing, etc; I am NOT a supporter of any group that thrives on hate, prejudice, and disrespect. In fact, i vehemently and passionately disagree with the opinions and politics of many [emphasis mine] of the Nazi/Fascist groups that I've learned about.
But i AM a supporter of the REAL Thin Blue Line group. A group of people who stepped up to do the right thing when others won't. Who will step in when something is wrong. Who are ready to defend others when they can't defend themselves. We are a group that prides itself on respect for ALL people. Together, we represent that line, at times which is very thin, but that will never be truly broken, that stands between good and evil; between crime and order; between violence and peace; and between hate and love. We are Law Enforcement Officers.
And this is why i will not stop displaying the Thin Blue Line symbol. I will not let hate and disrespect win.
There are wolves out there y'all. Some of whom are disguised as sheep. But i am a sheepdog, and i will do my absolute best to keep the wolves away from our flock. That is my commitment to my friends, my family, and even complete strangers.
Be safe, and look out for one another; we're all in this together.
Not a Nazi? Really? Okay, maybe Skinner's not a Nazi in the narrow sense of being a member of the Hitler-inspired American Nazi Party or whatever its variations in America are called these days. But in the everyday, broader sense, "Nazi" means excessively authoritarian. You know... as in dictators, tyranny, that kind of thing; including left-wing versions sometimes known as Stalinism. Excessive authority is what I'm getting at.
But don't ask him about parking regulations or you might get thrown off campus for two years by the UMass police. For asking about parking regulations??? Oh yeah, that and showing Skinner a folded-over picture of an unidentified Saturn, a picture that revealed only its 2003-2004 parking sticker on the car's left rear passenger window, another subject verboten (excuse the word) in online discussions like those on Reddit, etc.
How many times has it been claimed, without evidence, that Maura Murray's car was, with no doubt whatsoever, parked in Lot 12 the Thursday night before she vanished? Therefore, according to this convenient assertion, the Saturn could not possibly have struck Petrit Vasi?
The fact that Maura's Saturn was assigned to Lot 12 does not mean it was always parked in Lot 12. But a lot of people seem to dislike this inconvenient truth.
Southwest Circle, for example, located very near Melville Hall, is about a mile from where Vasi was hit; it's right next to where Maura was working Thursday night. And the only official indication that UMass can provide of Maura's working hours indicate she got out of work at midnight, just minutes before Vasi was hit, right about the time she was on her cell phone talking to her boyfriend.
I don't care what Skinner says in his tossed-salad of an essay, or opinion piece, or statement, or rant, or whatever you want to call it.
When an ordinary, law-abiding citizen wants to know whether a student's car could have been parked - four years earlier! - very near Melville Hall, on or near SW Circle, and as a result of his having asked this entirely straightforward question he's kicked off campus for two years without any explanation, yes, that's the exercise of excessive authority, which a lot of people call being a Nazi.
Because that's just what "being a Nazi," in common parlance, really is: the unreasonable exercise of excessive authority. Which we don't do here in America. Except for those like Skinner who worship the authoritarian cult of the thin blue line and keep trying to call it something else. Sheepdog, my ass.
And Skinner, while a senior and police cadet at UMass, worked with Maura Murray?
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I would add this about the willingness of police to suppress constitutionally protected speech, even though it's not a Massachusetts case.
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