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It's a symbol that has existed for years: a black and white U.S. flag with a single blue stripe. The thin blue line.

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Law enforcement officers and supporters who display the thin blue line flag — on patrol vehicles, uniforms and, in the days of the COVID-19 pandemic, face masks — view it as a show of pride and respect for a dangerous profession that puts officers' lives on the line.

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The idea is that police are the force that stands between law and order and chaos, the force that safeguards society against disorder.

Updated October 11, 2015 21:31 BST Police officers have been told they are not allowed to wear a black and white union jack badge in tribute to PC David Phillips for fear that it may cause. Police1 is the most popular destination for Police Officers, Cops & Law Enforcement. Find breaking news and video, products, jobs & more on Police1.

Critics, however, believe the symbol creates a sense of division between police and the communities they serve. Some say the concept fails to recognize the community's role in public safety and the importance of community-police relations.

And at a time when people across the country have taken to the streets for weeks to protest police brutality and demand reform, it's a symbol that some see as polarizing.

Last month a newly-formed group known as the Imperial Beach People's Alliance, which aims to educate the community about systemic racism and ensure that everyone feels safe in the South Bay city, submitted a list of demands to local government leaders. On that list: the banning of any thin blue line flags from San Diego County Sheriff’s Department uniforms and patrol vehicles.

Marcus Boyd, a leader of the group, which counts with more than 350 members on Facebook, said he associates the symbol with the blue wall of silence, an informal code of not reporting misconduct among law enforcement officers.

Boyd said he believes the thin blue line breaks trust with the community.

The Sheriff's Department, which does not appear to display the flag on its fleet of vehicles or uniforms, did not respond to requests for comment.

La Mesa police Lt. Greg Runge, a spokesman for the department, which displays a small version of the flag on its fleet of police vehicles, called it 'a symbol of solidarity and professional pride within a dangerous, difficult profession and a solemn tribute to fallen police officers and their families.”

San Diego police spokesman Lt. Shawn Takeuchi said 'over the years, the thin blue line has come to represent solidarity for law enforcement and their efforts to protect the communities they serve,' but added that the department does not take a stance on the issue.

The origin of the thin blue line dates back to an 1854 battle during the Crimean War, in which a British infantry regiment, in red uniforms, stood its ground against a Russian cavalry charge. The British formation became known as the Thin Red Line.

It's unclear when the adapted phrase was first used in police circles. In 1992, New York police Commissioner Richard Enright used the expression as part of a public relations effort.

In the 1950s, Los Angeles police Chief Bill Parker picked up the term, mentioning it in speeches and adopting it as the title of a TV show he conceived to promote a polished image of the Los Angeles Police Department, which had been plagued by a history of corruption within the force.

Parker left behind a controversial legacy. Under his leadership, the LAPD faced accusations of police brutality and racism as it transformed into more professionalized and militarized force that engaged in proactive policing — changes Parker viewed as necessary to ensure public safety.

Parker himself made a series of racist comments about Blacks and Latinos during his tenure, including in the midst of the 1965 Watts riots.

In the 1970s and '80s, the phrase was popularized in books and films, including the 1988 documentary, 'The Thin Blue Line,' which tells the story of a man's trial and wrongful conviction in the killing of a police officer in Dallas. In the film, the judge recounts that he was moved during closing arguments when a prosecutor spoke of the concept behind the thin blue line.

The flag itself emerged around 2014 as the Blue Lives Matter movement grew in prominence. The movement was apparently intended as a response to Black Lives Matter and grew out of a series of instances across the nation in which police officers were killed in the line of duty.

Controversy followed when the flag was appropriated by White supremacists and neo-Nazis who flew it among a sea of Confederate flags during a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. Participants in the 'Unite the Right' rally organized to protest the city's plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The event turned deadly when a man plowed his car into a group of counterprotesters, killing a woman.

More recently, in May of this year, San Francisco police officers responded to a housing protest wearing face masks emblazoned with the thin blue line flag — a display that drew immediate push back. According to news reports, police Chief Bill Scott ordered officers to no longer wear the union-provided masks, citing concerns that they 'may be perceived as divisive or disrespectful.' The department provided officers with neutral face coverings.

Tony Montoya, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, blasted leaders who took a stand against the mask for what he said he viewed as giving in to hatred toward police.

Takeuchi, the San Diego police spokesman, said the department doesn't allow the display of thin blue line insignia. But department policy doesn't address the current need for officers to wear face coverings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jack Schaeffer, president of the San Diego Police Officers Association, said he views the thin blue line as nothing more than a show of pride and support for law enforcement.

'It's not meant to be about hate' or create a divide, said Schaeffer, whose cellphone case is decorated with the thin blue line flag. He added that he views the flag as a showing of pride the same way other professionals, such as doctors, take ownership of their work.

One police department in San Diego County that embraces the public display of the thin blue line flag is the La Mesa Police Department, which allows officers to wear the symbol on their uniforms and displays the flag on its fleet of police vehicles, on the rear bumpers.

'The La Mesa Police Department wholeheartedly embraces and supports the wearing and display of other symbols as well,' Runge, the department's spokesman, said, adding that some officers choose to wear pink patches to observe Breast Cancer Awareness Month and that rainbow-colored patches are being designed for officers to honor Pride Month if they choose to do so.

Michael Jenkins, a criminal justice professor at The University of Scranton, said he believes society has generally accepted the thin blue line with little pushback in part because many members of the public have held police in high regard over the years.

Given the current public conversation surrounding policing, he said he believes it's time to reconsider the thin blue line. 'In the 21st Century, the police that we need is very different,' he said.

He said that while the thin blue line has been adopted as a form of solidarity, at its root is an idea that separates the public and police. Even as law enforcement started to view itself as part of the community under the philosophy of community policing, the thin blue line's influence on the way police officers view themselves generally remained unchanged.

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'I think that's where today the danger lies,' Jenkins said, adding that the idea behind the thin blue line leads to a mindset that impacts police officers' day-to-day encounters with the public.

'Some of the situations we're seeing on video are partially a result of police not recognizing that they need to engage with the community,' he said.

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Bishop Cornelius Bowser, co-founder of the Community Assistance Support Team, which aims to prevent violence in the streets of San Diego, shared a similar opinion. He worries that the concept of the thin blue line influences police culture and, in turn, affects the way communities are policed, especially Black communities that so often are criminalized, he said.

'When they come (into our communities), they see us as criminals, they see us as threats,' he said. 'They're there as warriors, as an occupying force.'

He said police need to build 'bridges of trust' with the communities they serve. And the key, he said, is changing police culture.

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'We don't need lines,' he said. 'What we need is unity.'