New York is the latest state to consider making it a hate crime to assault cops
A New York lawmaker introduced a “Blue Lives Matter” bill Thursday, making the Empire State the latest to consider offering police officers special protections under hate crime law.
“Protecting the men and women that risk their lives protecting the public every single day is [the] paramount concern for me as an elected official,” said Republican assemblyman Ronald Castorina, who proposed legislation that would make assaulting a police officer a hate crime.
Existing hate crime laws apply to attacks motivated by the victim’s race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, age, disability and gender. But Castorina now joins a growing list of U.S. lawmakers who seek to expand those statutes to include police officers as a protected class, akin to ethnic minorities or members of the LGBT community.
Following a number of failed attempts to pass similar legislation at the state and federal level, Louisiana became the first state to enact a so-called Blue Lives Matter law this May.
And while the latest FBI data shows a significant decline in police murders and targeted assaults on law enforcement officials, recent deadly attacks on police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., have prompted lawmakers in places like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Chicago and now New York to follow Louisiana’s lead.
“We now live in a world where police officers are attacked for no reason other than their badge,” New York City Council Member Joe Borelli said in a statement Thursday. “Here in New York City, we are fortunate to have one of the most iconic departments in the world, which in terms of hate crimes against cops, puts an unusually large bull’s-eye on our officers. I am calling on our state legislature to pass a Blue Lives Matter bill to add additional hate crime-related charges on those who would violently attack our thin blue line.”
By invoking the state’s hate crime statutes, the Blue Lives Matter bill would elevate New York’s already harsh penalties for violence against law enforcement officials. Under the proposed legislation, assault against a police officer would go from a Class C felony to a Class B felony, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Aggravated assault on an officer, currently considered a Class B felony, would now classify as Class A, carrying a potential life sentence.
“People will now think twice before they assault a police officer with the knowledge that they could be charged with a hate crime,” Castorina stated, arguing that such increased penalties will result in increased safety for police.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, dismissed this argument, suggesting that enacting such legislation would do little to improve the safety of New York’s police officers nor its citizens.
“Of course it’s important to punish those who assault police officers, but this bill is just political pandering,” Lieberman said in a statement to Yahoo News on Thursday. “Any politician truly committed to making New York safer for everyone must increase trust between police and the people they are sworn to protect by holding officers accountable when they abuse civilians too.”
