Dealing with a symbol divides German security authorities: Is the "Thin Blue Line" a recognition of police officers commitment to other people or is it increasingly an expression of right-wing sentiment?
 
 Munich/Mannheim.  
It is a poem with six stanzas that causes problems for an employee of the Mannheim police shortly after Christmas 2021.
 
 "The service is tough, the night is long, but with the colleagues together, it doesnt get scary," the administrative officer wrote on Christmas Eve on the official Facebook account of the police headquarters.  "Together we stand up for each other, stand together, on the "Thin blue line"."
 Later, the last line of the poem disappears and the employee is invited to a "sensitization talk".  Because the "Thin Blue Line", a thin blue line mostly on a black background, is taboo as a symbol in the police force.  Some countries also advise investigators not to wear them in their free time - because the symbol could indicate a right-wing or even anti-democratic attitude.
 
Origin: Marching formation "Thin Red Line"
 According to the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, the symbol is probably from the military designation "Thin Red Line" for a marching formation during the Crimean War in the middle of 19.  century.  In the 20.  In the 19th century, the "Thin Blue Line" was used again and again in the context of the police in the USA - as a sign of solidarity with investigators killed in the line of duty, but also as a symbol of a last line between civilization and anarchy.
 In an "information letter" for police officers in the Free State, which is available to the German Press Agency, the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office writes that the symbol clearly distinguishes the population into righteous citizens and "the criminals".  In addition, there is an "appropriation by extremist circles" with the "Thin Blue Line".  The letter does not reveal which persons or groups are specifically meant by these circles.  Outsiders could get "doubts about the neutrality, objectivity and impartiality" of officials wearing the symbol.
 
 AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel on the "thin blue line"
The police as the last line of defense against chaos - this view was also expressed by the head of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Alice Weidel, 2018 in the weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit": "The police officers, that protect citizens and enforce law and order are the "thin blue line" that separates civilization from anarchy. Let this line be ruptured and chaos is not far away."
 The "Blue Lives Matter" movement in the USA also used the symbol with similar arguments - as an explicit counter-movement to "Black Lives Matter".  During the storming of the Capitol on January 6 2021, demonstrators also used flags with the "Thin Blue Line".
 Nevertheless, some officers continue to see the blue line primarily as a sign of belonging to the "police family".  "It is a sign of sympathy and solidarity for colleagues who were injured or killed on duty," says the chairman of the police union (GdP) in Bavaria, Peter Pytlik.  "We as GdP Bayern continue to see the symbol as a sign of a community of solidarity."  However, it is used "only very sparingly to prevent misunderstandings or misinterpretations".
 
Dealing with the symbol varies at country level
 In other countries, too, there were sometimes few clear lines in the way the police dealt with the symbol.  For example, the state association of the GdP in Saarland procured special patches with the "Thin Blue Line" for police officers in the state in 2018, which the Ministry of the Interior in Saarbrücken then banned from wearing - because of concerns about the neutrality requirement.  The state board of the union then described this as "more than regrettable".  The "special opinion" on the ban would "better not be published".
 In Schleswig-Holstein, the state police announced that they were distancing themselves “in any form from the use of all symbols with political meaning, especially those associated with the right-wing narrative”.  If police officers used the symbol on duty, follow an official examination.
 When a Kiel police station illuminated one floor of the building as a blue line during a Christmas party, this did not result in any legal consequences.  "According to the police department in Kiel, the action had not been discussed with superiors in advance," said a police spokesman.  The incident was later "intensively worked up internally" and there were "sometimes multiple discussions" with all those responsible.
 
Wearing a symbol can have consequences
 In Berlin, the police even published a photo via Twitter in February 2021 of an officer wearing a "Thin Blue Line" patch.  A police spokesman said that wearing such signs is "regularly not permitted and can have legal consequences".  However, there are no indications of disciplinary proceedings because of the "Thin Blue Line" in Berlin.  It is possible that such processes have already been destroyed after a ban on exploitation.  Therefore, no information can be given about the details of the case.
 Disciplinary proceedings against police officers because of the "Thin Blue Line" have so far been a rarity anyway.  According to a survey of the State Criminal Police Offices, the Federal Police and Customs, such a case is currently only being examined in Hamburg.
 "From our point of view, there are not always legal consequences necessary," says Björn Schmaering, who deals with the "Thin Blue Line" at the police green professional association.  "But the sensitivity regarding the symbol has apparently not yet reached the authorities. And its simply naive to show yourself with such a symbol if you dont know the meaning."
 In the case of the poem by the Mannheim police officer, there were no disciplinary proceedings either.  The employee did not know the controversial meaning of the term, said a spokesman for the police headquarters.  "But its undeniably a term we shouldnt use. Police have to be neutral."  The last line in the poem reads like this: "Together we stand up for each other and hopefully well all get home safe and sound."  (dpa)