Audio By Carbonatix
This is actually something of an old idea, if you can imagine. Some drivers think slapping a “Thin Blue Line” decal or “Support Our Police” bumper sticker on your car might earn you a pass from law enforcement. Maybe even turn a speeding ticket into a warning. But a recent thread in Reddit’s r/AskLE (a forum where police officers answer questions directly) suggests that belief is mostly myth. And in some cases, the stickers do the exact opposite.
The conversation started when one user shared a story about his former neighbor. See, they’re a self-described drug mule who claimed he stayed “below the radar.” How? Partly, by decorating his car with both religious and pro-police stickers.
That led to a flood of responses from actual police officers
Nearly all said the decals make no difference in whether a driver gets stopped.
“If he obeyed all traffic laws why would he get pulled over? No, pro police stickers mean nothing,” wrote one commenter identifying as a police officer. Another added, “Obeying traffic laws is what prevented him from being stopped, not having some cringe bumper sticker with a blue line on it.”
Several responders went even further, saying those stickers sometimes increase their scrutiny.
“Here we have Sheriff Supporter plates and I almost always look at those cars more closely because lots of people think like your friend and are trying to hide something,” one police officer explained. Another echoed that, saying, “If anything I’m more suspicious when someone decides to post a bunch of pro-police stuff on their car.”
“—-bags put thin blue line stickers on their car when transporting drugs,” one bluntly stated.
Some cops admitted stickers might play a small role after a stop, like nudging a decision toward a warning instead of a ticket if the driver is polite. But the overwhelming consensus was that the only real way to avoid a traffic stop is the boring one: don’t give police a reason to stop you.
As one officer put it, “The best way to support us is to follow the law and make our jobs boring.”
Speaking of driving pretty, the OP’s drug mule neighbor? Well, he also gave away the other part of his strategy: he always follows traffic laws.
So no, a $3 sticker won’t make you invisible to traffic enforcement. And if anything, it might shine a brighter spotlight on you than you’d like.
