The Solvay (NY) Police Department is displaying a popular comic book character on their patrol vehicles.
Chief Allen Wood told Syracuse.com that “It’s the Punisher symbol of the Marvel comic book character, but it’s got the thin blue flag symbol colored over the skull.”
The thin blue line shows the unity of the police, he said. The decals were added to the cars several months ago.
The Punisher is a vigilante who first appeared in Marvel comics in 1974 and is soon to appear in a Netflix’s series. The character’s name is Frank Castle, a war veteran and a United States Marine Corps sniper. Castle becomes The Punisher after his wife and two children are killed by the mob when they witnessed a killing in New York’s Central Park.
The Punisher wages a one-man war on crime using murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence, and torture.
Putting The Punisher decal on the cars is “not a big thing. The colors are to represent the police and the unity of the thin blue line,” Wood said. “The Punisher, he dealt with bad guys, and that’s how we are.”
But, the chief added later, “we do our jobs. We’re not vigilantes.”
The members of Solvay police department were offered several different decals to choose from to put on their vehicles, and they chose this one, the chief said. Other police departments and the military have also put The Punisher’s symbol on their equipment, Wood said.
The chief, however, didn’t run the decal past Solvay Mayor Ron Benedetti.
Benedett has not seen the decal but said if he finds it “…inappropriate it will be coming off.”
