Vancouver police officer directed to remove patch from uniform

Vancouver police say an officer has been told to remove a patch from his uniform.

An image of the officer wearing the black patch that includes the Star of David and white bars, similar to the Israeli flag, had been posted on social media on Thursday.

Patches such as the one the officer was wearing — which also includes a diagonal white line — can include a Marvel comic character, “The Punisher,” in the opposing bottom right corner. That symbol has been adopted by some police and military officers.

According to Forbes, the Punisher logo was used by some during white nationalist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

The Vancouver Police Department replied to the posting on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday.

It says the patch “is not an approved part of the VPD uniform” and the officer has been directed to take it off.

The VPD has previously said unauthorized patches should not be worn on uniforms.

Deputy Chief Const. Fiona Wilson told the Vancouver Police Board in January last year that a reminder of the policy had been sent to all officers, after a complaint about an officer wearing a thin blue line patch.

A report to the board said the thin blue line patch was worn to express solidarity among officers but its use had generated “controversy and concern” among the community, including Indigenous advisers who perceived it as a “dividing line.”