A manager of a Texas printing company wanted to show her support for local law enforcement and came up with the idea of putting blue stripes on the back of her car, to represent the “thin blue line”. The term “thin blue line” refers to the concept that police officers are the difference between an ordered society and anarchy.
Photo credit: Facebook / Tangent Signs
April Killingsworth of Tangent Signs, put the blue stripe on her car and decided to post an invite on Facebook to give a few more stickers away for free. They didn’t think much would come out of it, but it turns out they completely underestimated the goodwill of the community to support their officers in blue.
“When we first posted it, it was kind of a sporadic thing that morning,” Killingsworth told KTRE News. “I asked my employee to cut a few blue stripes, and he asked how many and I told him five. We’ll be lucky if five people even show up.”
Photo credit: Facebook / Tangent Signs
Killingsworth couldn’t have been more mistaken and was shocked to see a long lineup of cars outside the print shop.
Photo credit: Facebook / Tangent Signs
The company soon lost count of how many blue lines they’ve made and given away, but it was over 1000 in two days!
Photo credit: Facebook / Tangent Signs
They had people drive from all over East Texas, including members of the Crockett Police Department, who drove 40 miles to get the stickers. Not only that, but Killingsworth said they’ve been getting emails from all over the States, including from NYPD officers and people from California and Minnesota.
Photo credit: Facebook / Tangent Signs
It seems that the simple visual of a blue line has caught on in a big way. Another Texas family has taken up the blue line symbolism in a different way. Anthony Welichko painted a thin blue line on the curb of his neighborhood to let officers know the neighborhood supports them. His post to Facebook went viral.
Photo credit: Facebook
One commenter showed his solution – a thin blue line on his mail box.
Photo credit: Facebook
As for Tangent Signs, even though the demand for the blue ribbon stickers has put them behind in their everyday business, they said that supporting law enforcement in such an impactful way makes it well worth it.
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