Blue Lives Matter Bill

[Lucid]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ianas-blue-lives-matter-bill-just-became-law/

So what do you guys think of putting police officers, as well as firefighters and other emergency personnel under a protected class? Do you think a new law is necessary to protect officers or do you think it'll be abused? What do you think of referring to it as the "Blue Lives Matter" in the midst of all of the allegations of police brutality against African-Americans and the "Black Lives Matter" movement? Do you think this should be picked up by other parts of the country? What are your thoughts?

 

[Kanzler]

It's political. There's no reason to believe otherwise that Louisiana already have laws that make the assault of police officers and other emergency personnel more severe than that of other people. So there is no point for a new law if what you want is increased penalty - either you already have that or you can increase it without making a hate crime law. Secondly, hate crime laws normally target acts against immutable characteristics (race, gender, sexual orientation, etc) so expanding its scope to include professions waters down the purpose of hate crime laws.

People will talk about the law in all sorts of flowering terms, but based on the Wapo article, this seems to be the only substantial difference cased by the new law:

The change to Louisiana law would mean that those convicted of committing felony hate crimes against police officers could face a maximum fine of $5,000 or a five-year prison sentence. A hate-crime charge added to a misdemeanor carries a $500 fine or six months imprisonment.

 

[Her]

This is a power play, pure and simple. It's a move dedicated to protecting a system which has come under extremely overdue worldwide criticism, using the justified anger of a wronged group of people in order to strengthen their own base. As Kanzler pointed out, the new law doesn't add a substantial difference to what already exists. That's not really the point, as we should all know. It's transparently about making a statement that they will not let their status quo be threatened.

I have no doubt it'll be abused. Of course there are 'good cops' (in service of a corrupt system, though) and what not, but the police system in America already has enough legislative protection and already bends & outright breaks enough laws to protect their own from laws they've already broken. It's just a matter of time until this addition is twisted to protect the evil from the consequences they deserve.

 

[Livewire]

Yay! Another example of ass-backwards rural republicans passing legislation designed to disproportionately target people of color, "Blue Lives Matter" is a conservative political rallying cry and nothing more, it has nothing to do with actually preserving human life. Somebody should tell Louisiana that Jim Crow ended a while back and they should consider moving into the 21st Century with the rest of us. Establishing a protected class based around your profession, no less, is a dangerous, slippery slope and it opens the door to unintended precedents and it won't do a whole lot but target black people. They should do something useful and maybe, I don't know, set aside money for the families of first-responders, law enforcement and EMT's who do get killed or injured on duty so that they are provided for afterwards? What a novel concept.

 

[Esper]

Man, they really hated Beyoncé's Formation video.

Secondly, hate crime laws normally target acts against immutable characteristics (race, gender, sexual orientation, etc) so expanding its scope to include professions waters down the purpose of hate crime laws.

Exactly. Off the top of my head I can only think of religion as one category in which a chosen trait is often given similar protection. Are we really saying that being employed as a police officer is as important as someone's religious preferences? I hope not. Everyone is legally free to have their own beliefs and feelings about religion. Not everyone is legally able to be a police officer.

 

[Crizzle]

Aren't police officers already a protected class?

Seriously, I'm fine with firefighters and emergency/medical personnel getting a protected status. But cops? No, they will most certainly abuse it.

 

[gimmepie]

More to the point, if you become a cop you are automatically assuming the risks associated with the job. Psychological or physical damage as a law enforcement professional is a professional risk, it doesn't warrant additional protective legislation.

As everyone has already pointed out, this is clearly just a political statement and has nothing to do with actually protecting human life. How could you really protect police any further realistically? They put themselves in danger just by being police.

 

[Somewhere_]

The point of police is to protect people, and this is assumed from day 1. They are trained professionals, and there is no reason to pass this law against them (basically what gimmiepie said). Its also sort of backwards because aren't the police the ones enforcing this? The police are supposed to protect everyone equally, and talk about POV... the police get to enforce a law protecting themselves from hate speech? It seems really abusable and easy for the police to be biased. But we will have to see I guess.

 

[Sir Codin]

Nepotism amongst police officers is already embarassingly high. A law like this won't do any good towards solving the problem of low accountability for an officer performing unlawful actions.