Pierce Transit officials at odds with sheriff over ‘thin blue line’ stickers
Stickers on three Pierce Transit police vehicles are causing controversy.
The decals depict a black-and-white American flag with a blue stripe in the middle. To some, it is a tribute to fallen officers and a show of support to law enforcement. In recent years, it has come to be a controversial symbol associated with the Blue Lives Matter movement that formed in opposition of Black Lives Matter.
After someone spotted one of the stickers in January and complained, Pierce Transit’s CEO Sue Dreier reached out to Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer and asked for the decals to be removed.
Troyer denied the request and on Monday told The News Tribune, “They’re our vehicles and my deputies and it’s under our policy. We’re not going to change them.”
Pierce Transit contracts with the Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement services, paying the department $3.5 million annually for 19 employees. The contract expires Dec. 31.
There are 21 vehicles jointly used by the two agencies; three sport the stickers.
In a Feb. 26 letter, Dreier said Pierce Transit values inclusiveness and that the “thin blue line” stickers “have become polarizing and divisive. Especially to people of color.”
She referenced a survey showing 40 percent of people who use public transportation in Pierce County are not white and 19 percent identify as Black or African American.
“When police officers are called upon by a transit supervisor or bus operator for assistance with one of our customers, the blue line flag stickers could create an uncomfortable situation and perhaps amplify the response,” according to Dreier’s letter, which was co-signed by Victoria Woodards, Tacoma’s mayor and chair of Pierce Transit’s Board of Commissioners.
Troyer sent his reply March 12, denying the request and reiterating that law enforcement officers view the decals as a way to honor their fallen colleagues.
“This imagery has a deep, personal meaning for each of my department members and to the family members of our fallen deputies,” Troyer wrote. “I answer to each of them and I respect them deeply.”
He asked for Dreier’s help educating the community on what the thin blue line image historically means and for her understanding in why he denied the request to remove the stickers.
“It is time to start listening and understanding,” Troyer wrote. “It is time to mend the seam, and for all of us as leaders to hold together our community as we confront the challenges that divide us and look to a better future.”
The thin blue line stickers were removed from 130 Tacoma police vehicles last summer and replaced with standard American flag stickers. Department officials said the move was an attempt to be inclusive and get rid of any symbol that could create division or controversy.
Dreier declined to be interviewed about the issue, saying she and Woodards want their letter to stand for itself. They did, however, issue a joint statement saying they still hope to see the decals removed.
“While we are disappointed that the Sheriff has chosen not to remove the decals, it is our hope that the conversation about removing the thin blue line decals from these vehicles can continue and we can find common ground,” it reads.
Halley Knigge, who initially expressed concern to Pierce Transit about the stickers, said she believes many people find the thin blue line decal to be a threatening symbol and is disturbed that the Sheriff’s Department doesn’t seem to care about what its customer wants.
“There seems to be no accountability to this agency that they are providing a service to,” Knigge said. “I find it odd and concerning that (Pierce Transit) has no power over how that service is provided, especially when it has disproportionately harmful impacts on the constituents the agency serves.”
This story was originally published May 3, 2021 at 3:30 PM.
