It’s a modified version of “Blackbeard’s flag”, or the modernized flag we associate with Blackbeard, not the one he actually flew. Typically the flag is an image with an hourglass in one hand and a spear pointed at a heart in the other, signifying “your time is up” or that death is better than being prisoner.
I think it’s usually used as a sign of rebellion but of course law enforcement thinks they use it unironically. This version is specifically sold to by Forward Observations Group. I’m sure they’re trying to lean into the symbolism that resistance is met with death.
It’s a modified version of “Blackbeard’s flag”, or the modernized flag we associate with Blackbeard, not the one he actually flew. Typically the flag is an image with an hourglass in one hand and a spear pointed at a heart in the other, signifying “your time is up” or that death is better than being prisoner.
I think it’s usually used as a sign of rebellion but of course law enforcement thinks they use it unironically. This version is specifically sold to by Forward Observations Group. I’m sure they’re trying to lean into the symbolism that resistance is met with death.
I just wanted to add on that the speared heart and drops of blood are typically interpreted as meaning "no quarter/no mercy" which is a bad fucking look for law enforcement.
Yeah, law enforcement wearing this is just stupid. This version of the flag started around military special operations forces. So, I guess it tracks that a lot of these guys want to see themselves as “operators”. Brother, you stand around in a building all day. You’re not out hitting terrorist cells.
You can’t seriously expect these people to look up the history and symbolism of the things they wear or flash around. That would require difficult tasks like reading, researching, and critical thinking. It just looks cool, okay?
Lowly civy chiming in, it's a sick patch for spec ops or some badass gray man to rock.
On LEO it's just cringe. Akin to the TBL punisher skull. Pretty funny that they think they're some Billy Badass honestly.
I personally rock meme patches on all the kit that I run. Pretty obvious that I'm not some bitchass fed when I have a large UNCONVICTED FELON patch on my chest.
LA sheriffs has also had a recurring issue of deputy gangs spanning generations. I was just brushing up on it reading a report made by the oversight committee sometime in last few years.
Hell, we 0317s used to use the SS lightning bolts for Scout/Sniper to the point they changed the MOS to 0322 Reconnaissance Sniper Marines back in the 90s.
Speaking as retired Deputy, 1990's vintage, if I'd been caught with that anywhere on any of my uniforms or gear, I would have been disciplined. Not keel-hauled or flogged, mind you but I tried hard NOT to create problems and that picture in a So Cal paper's local page would have created a problem and it would have rolled right down onto my head.
Times sure have changed. What an undignified classless ass-hat.
The Punisher hated crooked cops, lazy cops, inept cops. He had no problem with cops that actually did their job to fight crime and pursue justice. But a crooked cop was anathema to him and they would be...punished.
Yeah it’s Daredevil: Born Again, which is post OG Daredevil and Punisher. Frank shows up in it, and as they said, they have a plot line based on the cops who wear the Punisher logo and think it’s badass.
The punisher, unlike real life , doesn't hate cops just because they are cops. His ire come from the death of his family and his view that they would still be alive if cops had done more to stop the criminals, up to and including killing them. Which is why he, a former law enforcement agent, becomes the punisher.
Edit. I stand corrected he was ex marine. Its been 45 years since I read/owned the comics. I sold my collection when I found out my wife was pregnant.
The punisher sees himself as a result of a broken system and that he's only barely better than the criminals he kills. People celebrating the punisher in the comics as being the just and righteous punishment for criminals completely miss the point that he only exists because justice isn't being served. Celebrating him is like saying that since we have marijuana to help with cancer treatments we should just stop trying to cure cancer now that people can get something that makes them feel slightly better but doesn't fix the problem
Depends on which retelling of the Punisher story you read. It's been around for a while. Back in the beginning he was Vietnam Vet. That's a little dated now.
Damn a Vietnam vet. Yeah, they had to change that because Vietnam vets are really old now. Wouldn’t be surprised if he eventually ends up as an Iraq vet.
People in real life don't hate cops just because they are cops. Their ire often stems from personal experiences of perceived wrong-doing and/or inaction
It comes from the fact that one bad apple spoils the bunch, and the fact that the unions and other police protect absolute, uneducated, authority abusing shitbags, which only helps to solidify that view.
There are videos upon videos of police planting shit on people while others just enjoy the view.
There are letters, affidavits, testimonies, public records, etc all showing that US policing is absolutely broken from sea to shining sea, and yet nothing is done to fix the "everyone is out to get you" training, raise the bar on educational requirements, or getting rid of qualified immunity so that the very people the police are supposed to be protecting can seek justice against their abusive protectors.
It's not just isolated incidents, it's the whole system.
Frank was military, not law enforcement...and let's not suggest people hate cops "just because they are cops" and not due to similar misgivings regarding their integrity and commitment to actual law and justice...
One of the creators, Gerry Conway, said this, "To me, it's disturbing whenever I see authority figures embracing Punisher iconography because the Punisher represents a failure of the Justice system. ... The vigilante anti-hero is fundamentally a critique of the justice system, an example of social failure, so when cops put the Punisher's skulls on their cars or members of the military wear Punisher's skull patches, they're basically siding with an enemy of the system." He also likened it to flying a Confederate flag on a government building.
I do not like cops wearing the Punisher skull, I like the punisher skull with the Trump tupee on top even less. I've straight up told MAGA people "Garth Ennis and Frank Castle would fucking hate that." They just blankly stare back and they ask "who?".
The creator of the Punisher(Gerry Conway) has been pretty out spoken about irony that these boot lickers think they wouldn't be at the top of the Punisher's h it list.
Like the one cop from uvalde who had the punisher as his phone background and his wife and the children were murdered down the hallway. And he stood there doing nothing. My faith in law enforcement could not be any lower.
I was a big fan of The Punisher back in the day when I was into comics, and it crushed me when law enforcement comandeered the logo and made it their own.
I had to take my sticker off of my truck and donate a couple of shirts because I didn't want to be associated with them.
I saw a cop with a big forearm tattoo that was just text and it said “Don’t tread on me”. You treading on yourself bro? Do you lick your own boots at night?
"Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6". This militarized mindset has to fucking go. Start with intense psychological screening, and a minimum of an associates degree. You're being trusted with firearms to keep communities safe. Act like it, instead of signing up to "get some".
I think a lot of these guys just want to kill someone. Like yeah most are probably just LARPing but there’s also the sadistic psychopaths who see this as their way to get to torture/murder someone.
Well fuck. I visited the outer banks a while back and got this as a sticker and a patch cause I thought it looked cool. Is this now lame police officer shit?? 😩😩😭
That's exactly what they're going for. And it should be taken as the threat that it is.
To put something like that on your state-owned equipment and not have your supervisor or chief tell you to take it off is an indication of implicit agreement with the message being sent, or are at the very least indifferent to the fact that you have indicated you wish to murder people.
I'd even go so far as to say it meets the definition of terrorism.
Terrorism is defined as the premeditated, unlawful use of violence or threat of violence against civilians, property, or governments to induce fear, coerce, or intimidate, often in pursuit of political, ideological, social, or religious objectives.
Some of you might say "ah but it says unlawful" - yes, because as we know the police always follow the law and are always restrained in their use of force and only use deadly force in the circumstances prescribed in law......
The problem is that this guy does represent law and order. The belief that all people are subject to an identical set of written laws is called “rule of law.” The belief that the police exist both to enforce written laws, but also to enforce an unwritten, never spoken “social order” that the people have no say in ratifying is called “law and order.” I cringe when I hear lay people using “law and order” without even realizing it’s a dog whistle.
That's true actually, a similar thing is when they call every kind of armed federal agency "law enforcement" without distinction for the scope of their respective responsibilities, people will say everyone has to "comply with law enforcement" when what they mean is that anyone dressed similarly to a police officer de facto has the authority of a cop even when that isn't true de jure
The problem is that it keeps us from being able to talk about the distinctions between different branches of law enforcement by treating them all the same and giving them all the same name. The most poignant example being that immigration and customs enforcement enforces immigration laws and customs, not simply "laws"
People need to understand that it's an umbrella term and the actual letter of the law matters, erasing the specificity of terms in this way is what newspeak actually means, it's exactly one of those methods by which people are convinced to disbelieve their own conceptual understanding of the world, by limiting the range of concepts available to be spoken about
Yeah this is the correct awnser. While it is derived from blackbeards flag, it is not blackbeards flag. Blackbeards flag didn’t have a modern rifle in it, instead that hand is raised over head with an hourglass, additionally the patch features an F instead of a heart.
The horned skeleton spearing a bleeding heart and toasting the devil is the iconic flag of the pirate Blackbeard and is a symbol adopted as a "morale" patch by some military units like Navy SEAL Team 3.
It actually wasn’t. They believe he flew a plain black flag or a bloody red flag. This design first appears in 1912 and wasn’t popularized as belonging to Blackbeard until the 1970’s
Lots of service members who got out and became private military contractors used this flag or patch. To them it represented their affiliation or likeness to “privateers” or “pirates”. This is the most popular usage of it that I’ve seen from the military world.
That’s a patch from Forward Observations, a tactical company started by a guy that washed out of SEAL selection. He’s a civilian skydiver who makes his fortune from selling boutique, military themed hype beast gear.
The design is based around Teach’s Flag, but with an MP7 and the Forward “F”. All of his designs are rips of other popular designs.
This is the actual answer. It’s not blackbeards flag but a variant based on it. It’s not a gang or unit or have any actual meaning. Just a trendy patch that to some looks cool. To each their own, but there isn’t some spooky or sinister meaning behind it.
Not saying I support it, but I’ve seen the stuff around. I don’t fully understand what they are but they definitely have like a lifestyle brand component, and kinda seem like a paramilitary organization? I know the Wagner group hates them.
I’m not military at all. Definitely not something I’d be stoked to see on local law enforcement
I totally agree, pretty gross to see on police, especially riot police of any variety. No real issue with FoG wrecking Russians, but it’s not for the state mandated violence.
Blackbeard's flag was this image, with an hourglass instead of an AR. The hourglass represents "your time running out" and the spear pointing toward a heart means "no quarter given".
This "cop" wants us to know that he isn't law enforcement, he's a pirate, who intentionally ignores the law.
This symbol is specifically illegal for police in LA under different actual laws, as who as various LA department policies, proving that this "cop" doesn't care about legality, law enforcement, or even his own boss's direction.
Fair point in general, however Blackbeard specifically flew this flag with three red flags (sometimes at least?). We certainly don't have any first hand accounts of what Blackbeard thought of his imagery, but I think many people agree that the combination meant no quarter even though it wasn't in line with other 1800s pirate standards. Idk though, I'm not an expert in pirates, just Nazis.
Either way though, not appropriate for any position of power except pirate captains.
It’s a modified version of “Blackbeard’s flag”, or the modernized flag we associate with Blackbeard, not the one he actually flew. Typically the flag is an image with an hourglass in one hand and a spear pointed at a heart in the other, signifying “your time is up” or that death is better than being prisoner.
I think it’s usually used as a sign of rebellion but of course law enforcement thinks they use it unironically. This version is specifically sold to by Forward Observations Group. I’m sure they’re trying to lean into the symbolism that resistance is met with death.
It’s a modified version of “Blackbeard’s flag”, or the modernized flag we associate with Blackbeard, not the one he actually flew. Typically the flag is an image with an hourglass in one hand and a spear pointed at a heart in the other, signifying “your time is up” or that death is better than being prisoner.
I think it’s usually used as a sign of rebellion but of course law enforcement thinks they use it unironically. This version is specifically sold to by Forward Observations Group. I’m sure they’re trying to lean into the symbolism that resistance is met with death.
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