Behind the Badge
Orange County resident Valerie Mann, creator of a Facebook group titled The Thin Blue Line Supporters Group doesn’t just support law enforcement from her computer keyboard.
Mann has organized events such as Coffee With Cuffs, where she encourage the public to buy a cup of coffee for an officer, and Operation Cookie, where she dropped off cookies to the Tustin Police Department and asked her Facebook followers to do the same in their hometowns.
So when Mann hosted the Facebook group’s first ever Meet-and-Greet Saturday, Sept. 10, in Tustin’s Centennial Park, Tustin officers wanted to show their support for Mann.
“I met with the chief (Tustin Police Chief Charlie Celano) and let him know what I wanted to do and the chief said, run with it,” Mann said. “I wanted to be out here in the public eye … to get these guys out to interact with the public and the community.”
The gathering drew about 50 attendees, who trickled in throughout the afternoon and included current and retired law enforcement personnel.
Tustin Officer Michelle Jankowski stopped by on her day off and spent several hours at the event, making it a point to give Mann a hug before she left.
“When you have somebody who is so supportive of law enforcement, you want to support her back,” Jankowski said. “It’s a career that we don’t get a lot of positive acknowledgment. We don’t need it, but it is nice to get it.”
Valerie Mann, left, founder of the Facebook page, The Thin Blue Line Supporters, posed for a photo with Tustin Police Officer Michelle Jankowski during meet-and-greet at Centennial Park that was organized by Mann.
Tustin Det. Pam Hardacre also stayed for a while and shared similar sentiments as Jankowski.
“She has kind of become one of us,” said Hardacre, who is weeks away from retiring. “She is a very big law enforcement supporter.”
Mann launched The Thin Blue Line Supporters Group two years ago, in part, to counter what she said is unjustified criticism of law enforcement in the media.
“I saw the negative but not the positive,” Mann said. “I wanted to make sure the silent majority was heard. Law enforcement is human. It’s just like you and me.”
Within six months, the group had 10,000 members and currently has more than 15,000, so many that Mann has had to recruit more administrators to help manage the site.
“I was pleasantly surprised because I didn’t think it would grow as fast as it did,” she said. “I knew there were supporters out there. I just didn’t know how fast they would come running.”
And that was another reason for organizing the meet-and-greet, said Mann, who wanted members of the group, who may have only chatted online, to meet face to face.
Matthew Phillips, 8, came to Centennial Park in Tustin all the way from Porterville shows his support for law enforcement during a meet-and-greet organized by a Valerie Mann, founder of a pro-police Facebook page.
Some drove a great distance to be there, including a family that made the trip from Fresno.
Hector Romero, 59 and his friend, Ryan Turner, 42, drove 60 miles from Yucaipa to meet Mann and support the police.
“We are blessed to have a person like her that gives so much of themselves,” Romero said. “We want the cops to know that there are people from all walks of life and from all over that support them. They are not alone.”
Said Turner, “I don’t think people realize how difficult this job really is, both physically and mentally.”
Greg Pastore, 42, owner of Surf City Paracord Huntington Beach, a company that manufacturers survival gear and items for law enforcement, came by to donate merchandise for a raffle.
“I’ve always been pro law enforcement,” said Pastore, who grew up in Tustin.
Mann plans to host more meet-and-greets in the future and said some police agencies have expressed interest in holding one in their respective cities.
“We are just one big family,” Mann said.
Tustin Police officers, Taylor Ryan, left, and Kyle Howard, were among several officers on hand for a meet-and-greet at Centennial Park, organized by Valerie Mann, founder of the Facebook group, The Thin Blue Line Supporters.
Valerie Mann and recently retired Tustin Police Officer Bradley Saunders pose for a photo at the first ever Thin Blue Line Supporters meet and greet.
Valerie Mann, of Orange, who runs a pro-law enforcement Facebook page called The Thin Blue Line Supporters, organized the group’s first ever meet-and-greet at Centennial Park in Tustin Sept. 10. Dozens of people turned out, including current and retired police officers. The group has more than 10,000 followers.
These Christmas Tree ornaments were among the items given to police officers at a meet-and-greet at Centennial Park in Tustin Saturday. The event was organized by Valerie Mann, founder of the Facebook page, The Thin Blue Line Supporters.
