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Flag Proposal

Monday, 01 July 2013 03:24 Written by  Published in Honor Read 393 times
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Flag Proposal

Flag Proposal


Prior to 1970 the Baltimore Police Department didn’t have a police flag. It was rumored that then Police Commissioner Donald D. Pomerleau wanted an Honor Guard, and having seen other department’s Honor Guard Units carrying, an American flag, a State flag, a City, or County flag and their own Department’s Police flag. The Commissioner knew to look our best we would have to have our own police flag. . So he had someone work on a flag, and by the end of 1970, 3 December 1970 to be exact we had our own flag. A little more than a year later, early 1972 Pomerleau would have his Honor Guard. It should be noted that prior to the 1972 Honor Guard, we had a kind of Honor Guard within our Mounted unit, but the official Departmental Honor Guard was founded in 1972.  Mounted has always added a certain touch of class to our department, and their Honor Guard was not lacking. But this is more about the Baltimore Police Flag, a flag that didn’t have a lot of time, or thought put into it. The times much like today for Baltimore back then were busy, and violent, throughout the 1960s and 1970s we had a large number of loss within our department, and Pomerleau felt they should be sent off in honor, he wanted the best honor guard he could form, had he put the time in, seeking a flag that would represent more than just our police, after all, our police represent our city, and the people that live in it, work in it, and spend their recreational time as tourist as they visit this city. Baltimore is a beautiful city, and deserves a well throughout, well designed flag for their police. 

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Pomerleau's 1970 BPD Flag

On 3 December 1970 Commissioner Pomerleau unveiled his flag, a simple light blue field with BALTIMORE in a arched ribbon above our insignia and POLICE in an arched ribbon below our insignia. That's it, light blue, Baltimore Police and the Maryland Flag embossed in our 4th issue badge. ( FOR MORE INFORMATION - SEE OUR PATCH HISTORY ).  The flag had the Department’s name embroidered in a ribbon on a light blue hunk of flag shaped fabric. What our 1970 police flag failed to offer was something other agencies seemed to have over flowing from their departmental flags, cities like the NYPD, Boston, and Chicago just to name a few had meaning in their flags. Flags that connected with the police and the community they serve. Our flag was lacking significance, ties to the police, the communities or the people we serve.

We are hoping to correct that with a new Baltimore Police Flag, a flag that serves to remember our past, our present and our future, it will represent our fallen officers, our injured, our retired, our active and our future police officers. But not just police officers, this flag represents those we serve, those we have protected, the neighborhoods, and communities, of Baltimore. It is important that Baltimore's history be represented in our police flag.

First, lets take a look; this is our current flag, as mentioned above it has a light blue field with no stripes, it holds our police emblem, an emblem that has some meaning, mostly borrowed from other sources within the city. Having the shape of our 4th issue Baltimore Police Badge, embossed with our state flag, the state flag holds meaning, as it is a quartered flag that represents the Calvert, and Crossland families' coats of arms. Over the badge flag combo is the Battle Monument, again full of Baltimore City's rich history. Above and beneath this are two simple banners, telling those viewing it, that it is our, "Baltimore Police" flag.  

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In looking at the Baltimore Police Flag next to an NYPD flag, it is obvious our flag was just slapped together.

bpd nypd

bpd nypd

The NYPD Flag next to ours, as we already discussed there is no significance to our flag, But take a look at NYPD's flag, The official flag of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), first created in 1919. It is flown outside precincts and other NYPD buildings. It bears five alternating green and white bars, representing the five boroughs of New York City; Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx. There are 24 stars on a field of blue in the left upper corner of the flag. The blue field represents the Police Department. Twenty-three of the stars represent the separate towns and villages that became part of New York City under the Consolidation that took place in 1899. The 24th star represents New York City itself. Of those towns and villages that became part of New York City in 1899 (creating "Greater New York"), 18 had separate police departments that became part of the NYPD. The flag is in the public domain due to its age.

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Let’s take the Baltimore Police flag, strip it down to blank, and build a flag that has meaning.

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To start we need a simple white flag, which by the way, even a simple white flag has meaning, but we are not ready to waive that flag just yet... first we'll need to include what is called the "HOIST," normally the hoist is made of canvas, or nylon doubled or even tripled over and sewn onto itself, with two or more grommets added for strength and as a way to attach it to a flagpole. After the hoist, we’ll add a vertical stripe about the thickness maybe a little wider than the hoist but not as wide as the nine horizontal stripes we'll add next. Next to the vertical stripe we'll add nine horizontal stripes, one for each of our nine districts, lastly we'll add a field in the upper left-hand corner of the flag. We'll also make a vertical flag version for special events, and displays. 

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Next to the Hoist, we'll add a Vertical Stripe 

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From there we'll include 9 Horizontal Stripes 

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Next we'll add a Field to the upper left corner and right of the Vertical Stripe we added next to the Hoist 14 star slide 5

Now it could be time to start adding color and explaining what things mean. Let's first talk about something this flag should represent; Since a flag should mean so much it should tell of our, Past, our Present and our Future. To represent our past, maybe we can take the color from the 1970 flag, and use it for the stripes on our flag.

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The Past - The light blue comes from our old flag will be used on four of the nine stripes, not just to represent our history, those who have served and who have retired, but, our old flag, and our initial districts. It also represents change, correcting the things that didn't work, while building and strengthening on those that did.

Note: It is not well known, but, when our agency got its start, we only had 4 districts. This is why we are suggesting we alternate the old light blue from our first flag into the new flag serving as a way of preserving Baltimore Police Department's history.

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The Present - The next four stripes, will alternate in with the light blue will be dark blue two from the top down, and two from the bottom up. The dark blue stripes will represent our active police, and those that will someday wear our Baltimore Police blue

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After this we'll fill that 9th stripe with Black to represent and never let us forget our fallen.

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Now for that vertical stripe we put next to the Hoist, we'll color that red, for our injured

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Now for the Field in the upper left corner of the horizontal flag, or the top of our vertical flag. We'll use the same blue we used for the active officer's stripes, this field will blanket the city with our motto. A motto that we have had since 1880 and whether you knew the words, or just what they stood for, our officers since day one have always lived by a code that has had us Ever Ready, Ever Faithful and Ever on the Watch

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As important to a flag as colors, and the stripes, are the stars. We'll initially add 14 large stars representing our 14 seats of city council, those who took and oath to serve and protect those council districts, past present and future.

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Then we'll add our Baltimore Police patch, and banner with our 1880 Motto, Ever on the Watch. This is so people will recognize right off the bat, that this flag is the flag of their Baltimore Police Department. 

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Now going back to the stars, and the Baltimore Police history, the 20 point badge had 20 points to represent the 20 Wards we served and protected. We added 14 large stars for the 14 council seats. We want to add more stars, smaller stars to represent the people that live in the city, lived in the city, or that someday will live in the city. Again we focus on the Past, Present and Future. It is not just the Past Present and Future of our police, it is the Past, Present, and Future of our city, with the small stars and the large stars we have a total of 25 stars. 

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An this f approved would be the New Baltimore Police Flag, a flag that as we have said over and over will represents our Past, our Present and our Future, it represents our Retired, our Active, and our Future Baltimore Police Officers. And lets us remember our fallen officers, while honoring our injured. We have 9 stripes for the 9 districts, with four light blue stripes because our department started with just 4 districts and a light blue flag. We built on from those 4 stripes using that light blue from the first BPD flag to 8 stripes, because until 1958 we only had 8 districts, adding a 9th stripe we also recognize our fallen. And lastly, just as we did with our 20 point badge in 1862 to represent the 20 Wards, and those that lived in them. This flag has the stars to represent the 14 city council seats, the 20 wards, and everyone that has ever lived in, currently lives in, or someday will live in our city. So as you can see the 1970 design had no real meaning, no connection to our police, our citizens or the city we serve. The 1970 Pomerleau flag was just slapped together to fill a quick need. But this flag, has meaning, using historical info we were able to put our heads together, and design a flag that is full of meaning, and will connect us better with those we serve.

Further Flag Research

During research we also found that when hanging a horizontal flag, vertically, someone will almost always hang that flag backward, or it just naturally become backward through a window, or door opening. So we made a Vertical version of our flag that can, or does not have to be used. We just figured for the sake of completeness it might be worth presenting, with this design giving us a version of our flag that cannot be hung wrong and would also serve our Honor guard in a way that other flags have failed us. 

 25 star flag


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Last modified on Wednesday, 08 April 2020 08:58
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The Baltimore Police Historical Society put this and other articles on this website together using research from old newspapers, old books, photos, and artifacts.

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