Lt. Justin Couture was one of nine Burlington PD personnel to take a city-sponsored trip to the Legacy Museum and other civil rights landmarks in Montgomery, Ala., last week. The trip was planned to inform the department’s implicit bias training, which Couture oversees and manages, Chief Brandon del Pozo said.
Couture’s T-shirt, however, depicted imagery used by Blue Lives Matter, a countermovement to Black Lives Matter’s anti-police brutality campaign.
The black shirt features a white flag with a thin blue line replacing one of the stripes, a symbol traditionally used to express solidarity among law enforcement that has been co-opted by the alt-right. The imagery gained notoriety after white nationalists hoisted Blue Lives Matter flags at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va.
Burlington Police Department included the photo of Couture in a gallery of images from the trip posted to its Facebook page on June 26.
Social media users called the wardrobe choice “tone deaf” in light of recent allegations of brutality against people of color by Burlington police officers. In May, two black men sued the officers who knocked them unconscious in separate incidents last fall.
The trip, which del Pozo said cost “several thousand dollars at least,” was paid for with police department funds. It included a stop at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice dedicated to sufferers of racism, segregation and police violence. The chief did not go on the trip.
“The shirt shows me they didn’t go to learn. The post shows they didn’t learn,” a Facebook commenter opined on the department’s post.
“This is startlingly poor taste at best, and intentional harm to the people at that memorial — and people seeing this post — at worst,” another commenter wrote.
Tabitha Moore, president and founder of the Rutland Area NAACP, called it a “face-palm moment.” She said the picture didn’t concern her as much as the department’s response to the criticism.
On Facebook, the department explained the T-shirt was from the Vermont Center for Responder Wellness, a treatment center that helps responders cope with trauma suffered on the job. The shirts — which also come in red for firefighters, yellow for dispatchers and green for military service members — are distributed for free at the center’s yoga classes, said Sonny Provetto, the center’s founder and a former Burlington cop.
Moore said the department’s response dismissed legitimate concerns.
“It’s that sort of behavior that makes it really difficult for people in marginalized communities to feel like people in positions of power, in this case law enforcement, are really understanding how what they do, even in moments like this, can have a profound effect,” she said.
Del Pozo said people were quick to assume that Lt. Couture meant to offend, but said that Couture wears the shirt to raise awareness about officers’ mental health. The message is important given the recent suicides of four New York City cops, two of whom del Pozo worked with on the NYPD. Law enforcement is finally erasing the stigma of asking for help, he said.
“One of the ways to entice them … is to give them a symbol they can identify with,” del Pozo said, referring to the thin blue line, which cops have used since the mid-19th century to refer to law enforcement as protectors.
Couture’s T-shirt was not a Blue Lives Matter shirt, but del Pozo said people are “not wrong” in interpreting it that way, especially seeing it worn at a memorial. He said the situation only underscores the trip’s purpose “to see how black Americans don’t see things the way we see things every time.”
“This is a real object lesson in that. We have to take it seriously, and we have to listen,” del Pozo said.
In a written statement to Seven Days, Couture said he wasn’t trying to negate the memorial’s importance “in any way” and didn’t mean to offend anyone.
“I realize not everyone sees the thin blue line symbol that way, and the museum and memorial are reminders of that fact,” Couture wrote.
Del Pozo wants trips like this to continue, saying an immersive museum experience is more impactful than a PowerPoint presentation on lynching and segregation. He wants to improve BPD’s “fairly static” annual implicit bias training, which focuses on how cops perceive people of color instead of the opposite.
Moore suggested the department seek out experts to guide reflection on these issues. Otherwise, a T-shirt controversy could happen all over again.
“What is [del Pozo] going to do differently in the future to make sure people who go there … don’t step into things like this?” Moore asked. “And if they do, how do they respond? [Hopefully] with curiosity, compassion, understanding rather than defensiveness.
“I hope that he really takes it to heart,” she added.
Updated, July 8, 2019: This version of the article acknowledges that the memorial honors victims of lynchings across the country, not just in the South.
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A cop wearing a shirt in support of other cops….. thats just insane and inappropriate. Im guessing its a favorite of his, just grabbed it in the morning and there was no ulterior motive. I don’t see why we can’t support our officers and our black community at the same time, if we start making and chosing “sides” thats were division and trouble start.
I dont think its about choosing a side but more a Burlington residents need to feel safe in their community and the BPD continues to make that more and more difficult. Under the watchful eye of del Pozo several officers have been allowed to continue the use of excessive force and racial profiling (del Pozo even wrote a paper in college on how successful a tool profiling) is. His mentality obviously hasnt changed much. Remember Burlington Officer, Jason Nokes whose level of force to get the defendant under control (after breaking Jasons nose, while resisting arrest, was to shoot him and wound him in the leg). The guy lived BTW and Jason was prosecuted and convicted. For the most part people dont want criminals running around Burlington giving their own version of justice. Whether they wear civilian clothes OR the BPD uniform.
Angela, I think that’s a little unfair to Del Pozo since he seems to be one of the driving forces for more in-depth bias training and better policing by Burlington cops.
That being said, this fuckup is a perfect example that the cops in Burlington still aren’t where we’d like them to be.
Can y’all amend the article to include that it’s a memorial to ALL lynching victims in the US, not just “the Jim Crow South”?
The shirt was worn by the guy that OVERSEES the implicit bias training.
Tell me again about how the police are here to Protect and Serve.
Too many damn symbols.
What a disgrace.
While I understand and support both the black & blue lives matter movements, it would appear that social movements like these have the power to both unite and divide people, which can be ultimately self defeating.
When a person or group can raise awareness without inadvertently alienating others, thats when you have something. Otherwise I agree with Mr Stoic: too may damned symbols.
Just another gang member, reminiscing…
As I Read It:
The pertinent facts in the story are:
“Couture’s T-shirt, however, depicted imagery used by Blue Lives Matter, a counter-movement to Black Lives Matter’s anti-police brutality campaign.
The black shirt features a white flag with a thin blue line replacing one of the stripes, a symbol traditionally used to express solidarity among law enforcement that has been co-opted by the alt-right. The imagery gained notoriety after white nationalists hoisted Blue Lives Matter flags at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va.”
***Dumb Question Alert***
Does everyone know about the alt-right doing this? Not making excuses, but not everyone is aware of such things. I wasn’t aware of this symbol existing, let alone being co-opted by a nefarious group. My lack of knowledge means there is more like me.
There is a real possibility this lieutenant went there in what was once a supportive shirt, found himself inadvertently caught up in one of our country’s many “gotcha moments” as we have become ever more sensitive, in our good intentions (though sometimes misguided) attempts to not offend anyone.
I’m not condoning behavior that shouldn’t be acceptable, by any police officer or otherwise, just pointing out, it’s possible this shirt was worn as an FU & it’s possible it wasn’t. I don’t know.
Angela, Nokes was a Winooski officer, who had previously worked at BPD, between stints in other departments.
What a bunch of idiots. Grow up and stop being insulted by a t-shirt.
From the article quoting Del Pozo: He said the situation only underscores the trips purpose to see how black Americans dont see things the way we see things every time.
The issue isn’t that black Americans don’t see things the way white Americans see them. The issue is that white Americans don’t see things the way black Americans see them. Its the white Americans who do and say things without understanding how what they do and say translates to people with different lived experiences.
“Vermont Center for Responder Wellness”
Yeah, that sounds like an epicenter of virulent white supremacist activism, for sure.
These are the same people who thought the “OK” hand sign was a secret Nazi salute.
I think if he had worn an American Flag shirt they would have ragged him .!! I have a feeling because he was a police officer is why he was torn down. What if he was a black cop with the shirt on??? People read to much into shirts.
All I can say is that I’m glad I live in Vermont and not in Burlington.
Symbols on lawn signs, symbols on flags and symbols on bumpers mean different things to different people. Some are offended, some feel good about it and others feel good that they make others feel bad about it. The liberals, with their self-proclaimed moral high ground decide what symbols are just and warranted. Take the blm movement; the liberal Mayor of Baltimore deemed it ok and just for the blm group to burn and loot the city. Our liberal President obama thought it was so just, moral and warranted that he invited the group to the White House to congratulate them, pat them on the back and shake their hands on doing such a fine job; proclaiming that they did a better job than he could have. Our liberal High School officials in Montpelier, Burlington and others thought this group represented such high moral standards they allowed their racist flag to be flown on the grounds of our public schools.
The acceptance or outrage is in the eye of the beholder but right now the media, the public education monopoly and the “entertainment” industry are all owned by ultra-liberal ideologists who have indoctrinated most of our children and a large part of our citizenry so they decide what is just and moral. This accomplishes their end goal of keeping us all fighting with each other while they tear the country down and then come to the rescue, saving us, gaining complete control once and for all. This is textbook Cloward and Piven and Saul Alinsky tactics that obama studied in school, taught in college and practiced when in office. The clintons also embrace this form of destruction.
I applaud Mr. Couture for wearing the shirt and appreciate his efforts to keep our streets safe. This BS is just liberal political noise.
You can take the cop out of Burlington but you can’t take racism out of the Burlington cops.
I’ve got more of an issue with any/all of the cops thinking it’s ok to malign the American flag with their “blue line”. You want to honor the flag, want to be honored for your service, then honor your oath! I’ve got news for you, it’s an oath to the people you serve and to the constitution, not to your side of the thin blue line.
@ PRichards… You wrote a good comment and totally agree with what you said. Obama set this country back over 50 yrs. His praising the rioters was a disgrace. Our school systems suck. The teachers aren’t teachers anymore, they are haters .!! Vermont used to be a great state, now it rating is really low…