What does Idaho’s new law say about pro-police flags? This town found out

Idaho’s new flag law, which has been skirted by some cities, has affected a Treasure Valley town that traditionally flew a pro-police flag.

The law, passed by the Idaho Legislature this year to limit which flags government entities may display, led the Parma Police Department to stop displaying its Thin Blue Line flag, which is a black-and-white American flag with one blue stripe. The name refers to the idea that police officers are the thin line between order and chaos in society.

So far, there have been varying reactions to that decision.

“We still represent the Thin Blue Line and always will. We just can’t fly the flag. It’s not a big deal,” Parma Police Chief Robert Topie said. “I’ve had people mention that they think it’s ridiculous that we can’t fly it.”

Boise and Bonners Ferry recently found ways to get around the law, which bans most flags from flying on government property, but left several exceptions, including for “the official flag of a governmental entity” and for other countries’ flags that commemorate special occasions.

Boise’s mayor and City Council made two flags, including the Pride flag, official city flags to keep them on the poles outside City Hall. At about the same time, Bonners Ferry’s council created a year-round “special occasion” to keep flying the Canadian flag.

The law technically does not have any enforcement mechanism, so there’s no way to penalize cities for not following the code.

Creating a workaround was never a discussion in Parma, Topie said.

“It seems so ridiculous and like a waste of everybody’s time. It is a flag,” Topie said. “The whole thing. Why are we wasting our time to make issues over nothing that mean nothing to nobody?”

The Idaho Attorney General’s Office reached out to all three cities, including sending a warning letter to Boise in mid-April.

In Parma, Topie said he’d already taken the flag down around the end of April before the AG’s office called.

Idaho’s state statute doesn’t define what a flag is, according to Ada County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lauren Montague, who said the office was relying on the Oxford dictionary definition.

“Based on that definition, we do not consider images or representations of the Thin Blue Line – such as decals, challenge coins, or artwork made of metal or wood – to be flags,” Montague said in an email.

Throughout the valley, Thin Blue Line displays are popular with law enforcement, including in Ada County. The Sheriff’s Office has a few pieces of artwork in “secure, nonpublic” areas, Montague said. Many were given to the office after Deputy Tobin Bolter was killed last year, she said.

In Caldwell, there’s a Thin Blue Line flag art piece gifted by a local school near officers’ lockers, spokesperson Char Jackson said. In Nampa, there are multiple Thin Blue Line flags in government buildings, spokesperson Carmen Boeger said. Often, they take the form of wooden artwork, she said.

The Meridian Police Department has several art pieces with the imagery, according to spokesperson Jordan Robinson.

None of those cities heard from the AG’s office, their spokespeople told the Statesman.

“No displays at Kuna City Hall have been or will be removed at this time,” spokesperson Zulema Montenegro said.