The Laguna Beach (CA) City Council voted Tuesday to keep the American flag motif as part of the markings on the city's new patrol vehicles.
“This has made us more unified than anything I’ve ever seen in this town,” said Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow, who was one of four council members who voted in support of the design.
"I got 600 emails from people in Laguna, the ratio of support was 100-to-one in support of the design. I got emails from across the country. The flag is a symbol, it doesn’t represent a particular president or political belief,” the mayor said.
The debate over the patriotic police logo on the city's patrol vehicles gained steam over the weekend following media reports that the issue had divided the community. But the concern generally was less about patriotism than about what the colors represent.
To some, the bold design that showed up on police units was considered too dramatic and “aggressive,” the Orange County Register reports.
Resident Chris Prelitz was among the minority who opposed the current logo. He told the council that others who felt the same were afraid to attend the meeting.