The Long Beach Police Department is searching for the person who stole a city flag from a flagpole and replaced it with a Trump political banner outside police headquarters Sunday morning, according to officials and social media video.
The person placed a padlock on the flagpole “in order to restrict the flag’s removal,” police said in a statement.
Police had to use bolt cutters to cut the rope and remove the red MAGA flag.
The department said a crime report was taken and an investigation is underway to find the person responsible.
“LBPD is an apolitical organization and does not participate in any political activity that promotes one political party over another,” the department wrote. “Flags or images depicting political activity are not authorized or endorsed by the LBPD.”
The flagpole stands among others in a secured construction area of the Long Beach Police Department public safety building and is only accessible from a small security parking lot with a construction trailer.
Access is limited to construction workers, authorities said.
“No indication the subject is a LBPD employee and we’re working with the construction company to locate any witnesses,” police said.
The department released surveillance video that appears to show a person by the flagpole, but it’s difficult to see who the person is or what they were doing.