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- DictionaryThe thin blue line
- ▪ used to refer to the police, typically in the context of situations of civil unrest
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Figurative reference to the position of police in society
The "thin blue line" is a term that typically refers to the concept of the police as the line between law-and-order and chaos in society. The "blue" in "thin blue line" refers to the blue color of the uniforms of many police departments. The phrase originated as an allusion to The Thin Red Line incident during the Crimean War in 1854, wherein a Scottish regiment—wearing red uniforms—famously held ... Wikipedia