Origin of Thin Blue Line?

[Enright3]

Anyone know the origin of “The Thin Blue Line” to indicate police force or law enforcement? Surely it came about before the 1988 documentary of the same name.

E3

[Futile_Gesture]

@Enright3

Anyone know the origin of “The Thin Blue Line” to indicate police force or law enforcement? Surely it came about before the 1988 documentary of the same name.

It’s derived from the thin red line

[Colibri]

The original reference is to Rudyard Kipling’s poem, Toomy, about the redcoats who defended the British Empire:

Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap;
An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.
Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, 'ow’s yer soul?”
But it’s “Thin red line of 'eroes” when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it’s “Thin red line of 'eroes” when the drums begin to roll.

The application to policemen is an extension of this phrase.

[Colibri]

“Tommy,” dammit. :smack:

[Colophon]

Yes, imagine a “thin red line” (or blue, as in the blue uniforms of the police) is all that separates the good and righteous from the evil…

[Enright3]

Thanks fellow dopers. I knew I could count on you!

E3

[Mk_VII]

William Howard Russell, in his Balaklava despatch to the London ‘Times’ from the Crimea, refers to “that thin red streak tipped with a line of steel” and this is believed to be the origin of the phrase.

[Futile_Gesture]

@Colibri

The original reference is to Rudyard Kipling’s poem, Toomy, about the redcoats who defended the British Empire

I don’t think so. Kipling wrote that in 1889 and the ‘thin red line’ of the Crimean War was in 1853. And the thin red line there was Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, not redcoats.

[don_t_ask]

@Enright3

Anyone know the origin of “The Thin Blue Line” to indicate police force or law enforcement? Surely it came about before the 1988 documentary of the same name.

I hope you have seen the documentary to see how it got its name. Bloody great movie.

[don_t_ask]

As to the thin red line:

In the mid 19th Century there was an understanding between officers and men (It may even have been enshrined in the 1847 Enlistment Act)that British Infantry would never be asked to stand and face an enemy onslaught in less than three ranks. The retreat would be sounded rather than allowing this to happen.

But it was a do or die situation at the Battle of Balaclava on October 25th 1864
(just prior to The Charge of the Light Brigade).

Colin Campbell’s 93rd Highlanders (Argyll and Sutherland)stood in just 2 ranks and faced a Russian Cavalry charge.It was here that the phrase originated.

The 93rd stood their ground.

[garius]

@don't ask

As to the thin red line:

Don’t Ask

hmmmm… i’d dispute the reasoning for them forming the Line at Balaclava for that purpose.

More it was the fact that normally, infantry would face Cavalry in a Square formation - that way you can’t get outflanked. The first rank kneel with bayonets pointing outwards, so the Horses can’t charge the Square. Instead the cavalry are left to sweep around the outside of the squares to be picked off by the men in the second rank who fire on them.

Unfortunately (if i call correctly) the 93rd were not only hideously outnumbered but also the only thing standing between the Russian Cavalry and the Rear of the British lines. If Campbell formed a square then his troops would be safe, but the Russians could cause havoc in the rear.

So instead he ordered the few men that he had to form a line. Which they did (despite knowing that in doing so they were probably committing suicide).

As a result, to onlookers (including Russell) it seemed like a miracle - with a “thin red line” of Brits holding out against impossible odds.

As i say though - thats all from memory, my specialty is the Napoleonic Wars not the Crimean.

[constantine]

I have heard that the term “thin blue line” was used by famous (infamous?) Los Angeles Police Chief William H. Parker to describe the Los Angeles Police Department. The idea was that the LAPD was a “thin blue line” protecting the good people (in other words, according to the LAPD’s numerous critics the “white people”) of Los Angeles from the barbarians.

No doubt the term “thin blue line” was inspired by the earlier uses of the term “thin red line.”

See this story from the LA Weekly for more on Parker and his legacy.

[Colibri]

@Futile Gesture

I don’t think so. Kipling wrote that in 1889 and the ‘thin red line’ of the Crimean War was in 1853. And the thin red line there was Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, not redcoats.

I stand corrected. However, I think Kipling certainly helped popularize it.

[constantine]

A few more cites that credit Chief Parker with coining the term “thin blue line” here, here, and here

[don_t_ask]

That is very clever garius. As far as I can remember the account I gave was accurate and was confirmed when it was the only one I found online, but your version makes more sense in that it accounts for the normal tactics of the day. I went to the regiment’s museum in Stirling when I was in Scotland but can’t recall that they gave any more detail.

My reference to the title of the movie was because

The judge, the son of an F.B.I. agent, was a man with a passion for law enforcement; he admits that he “welled up” during the D.A.'s emotional closing argument about “the thin blue line” of police risking their lives to protect society.

in 1976.

[Enright3]

@don't ask

I hope you have seen the documentary to see how it got its name. Bloody great movie.

Oh yeah. It’s been some years, but I’ve seen it. Very chilling at the end.

E3

[samclem]

I can give you numerous US newspaper cites for “thin blue line” referring to Civil War Veterans. The cites stretch from 1900-1960. And maybe on both sides of those dates.

[samclem]

I also found a 1946 story in a US newspaper about riots in India. The police were described as wearing uniforms trimmed in blue and yellow. And one description of them, wading into a crowd with nothing but bamboo sticks, was “They are like fox terriers. They take on any odds. A dozen of them, carrying no weapon but their bamboo sticks–in dextrous hands a very punishing weapon–will charge in a thin blue line straight into a howling crowd of hundreds of rioters…”

[samclem]

There was also a tv program in California in 1952, KNBH Ch 4. The listing appears in the Redlands newspaper as “Thin Blue Line. Police show.”