Des Plaines Revises New Policy To Allow Police Tribute Flag
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Des Plaines City Council has modified a new policy regarding what flags can be flown on public buildings, and aldermen were taking another look at the rule after the police chief could not raise a thin blue line flag that pays tribute to fallen officers.
Alderman Jim Brookman proposed the rule, approved July 5, that required city council approval to fly any flag other than the U.S., state of Illinois, city of Des Plaines, or POW-MIA flag over municipal buildings or property.
Alderman Denise Rodd noted the new rules prevented Police Chief Bill Kushner from raising the law enforcement tribute flag – a black flag with a thin blue horizontal line in the middle – on the city hall flagpole after the shooting deaths of five police officers in Dallas. Instead, the flag was hung above the entryway between city hall and the police station.
"A grieving police chief has had to go through red tape in order to fly a flag in honor of his brothers in Dallas," she said at Monday's council meeting.
Podcast
At the meeting, aldermen approved a resolution adding the thin blue line flag to the list of pre-approved flags, and will take another look at the policy itself, which some have called micromanagement.
Brookman originally proposed the new flag rules after the Des Plaines Public library, with the mayor's approval, flew the rainbow flag of the LGBT movement last month after the shooting massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando. He said the move wasn't about the rainbow flag, but about giving the city council the authority to decide which flags to fly on Des Plaines property.
At the time the flag rules were adopted, Mayor Matt Bogusz said the issue was "a solution in search of a problem."
Brookman was standing firm, saying there needs to be a policy about flags on public property in Des Plaines.
