FAIR LAWN, N.J. – The Fair Lawn PBA says its town’s mayor “politicized” the Bergen County community’s 9/11 memorial service held last Friday.
“During the 9-11 memorial honoring the 60 police officers, 343 firefighters and 2,977 civilians that died on this fateful day 19 years ago, Fair Lawn Mayor, Kurt Peluso through the borough manager ordered the Fair Lawn Police Chief to have Fair Lawn officers participating in the memorial services remove their thin blue line face coverings stating, ‘The Blue Lives Matter mask is political,'” Local 67 explained on its Facebook page.
–
Peluso, a Democrat who isn’t up for reelection until 2023, didn’t deny telling local police to remove the coverings in an interview with NJ 101.5, suggesting his goal was to minimize the risk of a confrontation between pro-police residents and BLM protesters.
“The Thin Blue Line is a tribute to all fallen police officers including those lost on 9-11. To interpret it otherwise would be hollow hearted. This is where we stand,” the PBA added in its own online statement.
Fair Lawn lost three residents during the September 11, 2001 attacks.
–
