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WA Police Force To Stop Using Ideological Symbols On Gear

Crime and Justice News

The officer who fatally shot Timothy Green near a Washington state coffee shop wore gloves with a Blue Lives Matter emblem while attempting to treat his wounds. The on-scene commander had adorned his department-issued laptop with a badge showing a coiled rattlesnake and a mantra understood by extremism researchers to represent right-wing, anti-government ideology. Now, under a settlement finalized last week between the city of Olympia, Wash., and Green's family, a Black man who was having a psychotic episode when he was killed in 2022, Olympia police must stop personalizing city equipment, the Washington Post reports. The city must also pay Green’s family $600,000. Green's lawyers say the agreement is the first step in restoring the public’s trust in the city’s police officers after Green’s family questioned how their beliefs influence the way they protect Olympia residents. “This is not unique to the city of Olympia — this is happening countrywide,” said Gabe Galanda, one of the family’s attorneys. “Whatever law enforcement is doing, they have to be above partisanship or political ideology.”


The Pierce County Superior Court approved the settlement Friday. The city of Olympia said that it was committed to a transparent investigation of the shooting work it said was “critical to maintaining trust between law enforcement and our community.” The issue of how police officers express their political beliefs has faced scrutiny. In Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, he released a video with San Antonio police officers wearing Make America Great Again hats. The city reprimanded those officers, and its mayor said police must serve above politics. Some police officers joined the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Others have maintained connections to militia or extremist groups. Olympia police have similarly been at times linked to far-right groups, including posing for a Facebook picture with members of the right-wing, anti-government Three Percenters. Kate Bitz, an extremism researcher with the Western States Center, a civil rights organization with a program on countering white nationalism, said police use of symbols like the thin blue line makes prejudice more permissive. “Other law enforcement agencies should consider voluntarily adopting similar policies on officer use of symbolism as a means of responding to public concern about harmful ideologies within law enforcement,” she said.


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