Orland Park Changes Vehicle Sticker Design, Keeps Pro-Police Message

ORLAND PARK, IL - The village of Orland Park has decided to change its vehicle sticker design that showed a “Blue Lives Matter” flag with the message “Orland Park Supports Police,” but it was not as a result of outside criticism or controversy associated with the plan.

The village’s 2017-2019 vehicle stickers will still include the words “Orland Park Supports Police,” but instead of a “Blue Lives Matter” flag with black and white stripes and one blue stripe to symbolize support for police it will be the traditional red, white and blue American flag.

Assistant Village Manager Joe La Margo says the change was made “only” as a result of phone calls from veterans indicating that the American flag should not be altered in any way regardless of the circumstances.

“A few veterans and others called and while they were very supportive of the sticker showing support for the police, in their opinion the American flag should be be altered under any circumstance and should always remain red, white and blue,” he said. “For those reasons and those reasons alone, we are changing the color of the flag on the sticker.”

Related on Patch: New Vehicle Stickers in Orland Park Show Support for Police

The original design was made as a result of several calls from village residents who asked the village to do something in the form of symbolism to support its police force. It’s not uncommon for Orland Park to have a vehicle sticker that pays tribute to a local organization that is doing good in the community.

“In the past we have recognized different organizations that have had a positive impact on the community through our sticker program,” La Margo said, noting the Lions Club and 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam Conflict have been previous sticker designs.

Supporting the village’s police force was a logical choice, he said.

“We made the sticker to support our police, not to make any political statement.”

La Margo points to a recent study that showed Orland Park is among the safest communities in the country through official FBI stats and that Police Chief Tim McCarthy (who is famous for having taken a bullet for President Ronald Reagan as a bodyguard during an assassination attempt in 1981) was named the best chief of police in Illinois by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police recently.

But just because the sticker has an American flag and an “Orland Park Supports Police” message does not mean that residents will be forced to display that anywhere they drive.

The village only requires the name of the village and sticker number to be displayed. The design part with the supportive police message and the flag is shown above those items.

So if someone wants to “take a razor to it” they can, La Margo said.

“Some people did not want to display the message we had about the Vietnam vets and that’s fine,” he said.
La Margo said the village received several calls from the public about the stickers, both supportive and unsupportive.

“But the veterans who called about the American flag is the only reason we are changing anything,” he said.