A Texas police department in the Bible Belt is receiving some criticism after deciding to place decals reading "In God We Trust" on its patrol vehicles, but officials have decided not to remove them.
Childress Police Chief Adrian Garcia told The Red River Sun that he added the decals -- funded through private donations -- in response to the increasing violence against law enforcement officers across the country.
"I think with all the assaults happening on officers across the country and the two that happened in the past few days in Harris County and Abilene, it's time we get back to where we once were," he told the newspaper. "This is our nation’s motto ... it's even on our currency. It's nothing new."
The decision was six months in the making and, after discussing it with his officers, Garcia said he felt like it was time to go forward with his idea.
"We spoke about it and not a single one (of our officers) disagreed with it," he said. "I feel it gives them a sense of pride by serving this community."
The decision was announced through a post on the police department's Facebook page. The post has been shared more than 3,000 times and received close to 5,000 likes as of Monday morning.
While the department received plenty of positive feedback, it also received some negative posts from people identifying as atheists and quickly made the decision to delete those posts.
"We will NOT allow negativity on our page. NOT FROM ANYONE! If you don't like something, you are entitled to your opinion but we ask that you don’t do it on our page. Any negativity will be deleted or blocked," a post from the Childress Police Department read.
Freedom From Religion Foundation -- a nonprofit group based in Wisconsin -- told The Amarillo Globe-News that it had received complaints and planned to take action.
"We haven't sent an official letter of complaint yet, but that is on our docket and we are planning to send something," Rebecca Markert, senior staff attorney for the foundation told the newspaper. "It is definitely showing a government endorsement of religion over non-religion, which is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment."
Law enforcement department is Missourim Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Virginia and elsewhere also have received complaints from the foundation about similar decals.
Luke Inman, 100th Judicial District Attorney, said he did not think there was anything wrong with the decals.
"My opinion, based upon my beliefs and legal understanding, is the phrase 'In God We Trust' does not violate the Constitution or the First Amendment Establishment Clause," he said. "The national motto, like the American flag, is another symbol of our great nation to which these officers driving these vehicles defend and took an oath to uphold."
Garcia told The Red River Sun that none of the Facebook complaints came from local residents and that taking the motto off the vehicles is not something he plans on doing.
"I'll fight keeping it on the vehicles all the way to the Supreme Court."
