South Jersey Towns Honor Police With Blue Line, Trend Is Spreading

OAKLYN, N.J. (CBS) -– Several South Jersey towns are showing their true stripes, and the color is blue.

In mid-August businesses along West Clinton Ave in Oaklyn noticed a blue line between the two yellow ones in the middle of the street.

"We started talking about it, bouncing the idea of thin blue line – it's probably police support," says Alan Diamond the manager of Common Grounds coffee shop. He's right, more and more towns are putting blue stripes in roadways to show support for police.

"It means so much to us, especially in a day we're having now with all the police stuff going on, it means so much to have their support and have our backs," says Oaklyn patrolman Dru Genther.

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Cherry Hill's Public Works Department painted a blue line on Mercer Street in front of the municipal building and police station in early September.

"The response from the community has been just an overwhelming outpouring of support that re-energizes the officers and they understand that people do care about them just like they care about everyone else," says Cherry Hill Police Chief William Monaghan.

In Haddon Heights officials took the blue line trend a step further and also added a red line to the middle of Station Avenue. "The red line shows the community support of the firefighters in the town," says Lt Joe Hales from the Haddon Heights Fire Department. "It feels good, we're a small community so community support is important to us."

While the red line idea may gain momentum next, the blue line trend has also popped up in Mantua, Woolwich Twp and Evesham Township.

Those towns have lines painted by Zone Striping Inc of Glassboro which says they'll paint blue lines for free to any town that asks.