Thin Blue Line flag in Barrie courts controversy

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) union building in Barrie, Ontario, is sporting a non-standard version of the Canadian flag, and appears surprised that it is creating controversy.

The flag is a black-and-white version of the regular red-and-white maple leaf flag, with a horizontal blue line through it. No, it's not a Black Lives Matter variant. Apparently, the black-and-white colouration is "purposely subdued to show respect" to police officers fallen in the line of duty (and more specifically, as a tribute to Heidi Stevenson, the police officer who lost her life in the mass killing in Nova Scotia this April), and the blue line is to represent the "thin blue line" of police between the general public and the forces of evil.
For some reason, the Barrie OPP Association thought that messing with the national flag was a good idea, and a union spokesperson claims that it was not intended to be a political statement. Perhaps predictably, the Blue Lives Matter movement against Black Lives Matter has claimed it as their own. Nevertheless, Barrie OPP seems intent on keeping the flag, flying regardless of conplaints, and regardless of the fact that it is no longer politically correct to claim to be colour blind.