Personally I've never associated the "thin blue line" with White Supremacists although there always seem to be White Supremacists in any organization that has a bully pulpit. I think it's mostly stood as a symbol of police protecting police. Too often, that means that police have historically not been subject to a suitable amount of oversight and often face different (read: lessor) consequences for when they do break the law. The irony in this case is that they are refusing a lawful order (ie. breaking the law) by continuing to wear the thin-blue-line patch thereby further ensconcing themselves in the notion that they are above the law.
I'd say the general mentality of policing has improved over the last 10-20 years but many of them still seem to be of the mind-set that they are somehow 'in charge' and citizenry answers to them.
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