Online Petition Aims To Remove Holmdel’s Pro-Police Blue Line

HOLMDEL, NJ – A petition to remove a painted blue line in support of police along Crawfords Corner Road surfaced last week on Change.org, gaining over 1,100 signatures within the last seven days. The petition is addressed to Mayor Greg Buontempo and the Holmdel Township Committee, requesting the removal of the line in "the first step to creating a better community".

The line has been at Crawfords Corner Road since 2016, when the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders passed a resolution to paint the quarter-mile blue strip between Holmdel High School and Holmdel Municipal Court.

The blue line symbol has been used in several communities to show support for local law enforcement. While the line’s meaning has been interpreted by some as the ability for police officers to separate good from bad, critics of the symbol have said that the line represents an "us vs. them" dynamic that furthers tensions between police and citizens.

Holmdel resident and Yale University student Eileen Huang started the petition amid the death of George Floyd in police custody last month. Floyd’s death has started a national conversation about race and police relations in America.

“I started the petition because I was frustrated to see such an intrinsically anti-Black symbol on the streets of my primarily white, conservative hometown,” Huang told Patch. “Though local officials had expressed that this line was painted out of "support" for law enforcement, I had known that this line—painted in fall 2016—and the "Blue Lives Matter" movement was a direct response to the Black Lives Matter movement that minimizes the harm attempted to erase the reality of police brutality against communities of color.”

On Tuesday, Mayor Greg Buontempo released a statement on the Holmdel Republicans Party Facebook page in reference to the petition:

“I unequivocally support the Holmdel Police Department and all law enforcement officers,” the mayor said. “In 2016 the blue line was painted on Crawfords Corner Road as a show of honor and respect for the work of these brave individuals. Four years ago this measure was done with no racist intent and I reject any claim that it did. While today we are having a national discussion on race relations in our country, my support for the men and women who protect us every day is unfaltering.”

Similar petitions have been set up to take down the blue line painted down the center of the yellow dividers on Kings Highway in Middletown as well as the blue line painted on Main Street in Woodbridge. The petitions have amassed over 500 signatures and 800 signatures respectively.

In Flemington, Mayor Betsy Driver removed the town’s blue line from Main Street on June 6 before a Black Lives Matter rally, according to Huang’s petition.

“It was insulting to me, as a woman of color, to see this line in Holmdel almost every day,” Huang told Patch. “I wanted to take advantage of the current moment – which is the largest civil rights movement of my lifetime – to petition for the line's removal. While I'm not surprised by the violent, intense backlash this effort has received, I am encouraged to see Holmdel residents, particularly people of color, banding together to dismantle symbols of police violence, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy in our community.”