Just over a month ago, on May 26, 2016, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed a bill that expanded the state’s hate crime laws to include police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel. In addition to the penalties for breaking a law, hate crimes come with additional penalties, such as up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine for felonies, and up to an additional six months in prison and $500 fine for misdemeanors.
Because the bill, known as the Blue Lives Matter Bill, expands the definition of hate crimes from personal characteristics to specific professions, protestors are claiming that it weakens the impact of hate crimes by adding more categories of people. But why is it necessary?
Last week, a deputy was shot and killed on the job in Harvey, Louisiana, a city just outside of New Orleans. The deputy’s job included driving around high-crime neighborhoods and making pedestrian and vehicle stops. He stopped a man who was too closely following the car in front of him, and a struggle ensued, resulting in the man killing the deputy by shooting him three times in the back.
The Blue Lives Matter Bill was written by Louisiana State Representative Lance Harris after Texas sheriff’s deputy, Darren Goforth, was ambushed, shot, and killed while in uniform last August. Security cameras prove that the attack was unprovoked and that there is no evidence that the deputy and the suspect formerly knew each other.
In the news, there are countless reports of police brutality, but these news portals do not often show the full story; while it is true that policeman sometimes use force when making an arrest, they are oftentimes trying to control a person resisting arrest. When a person is resisting arrest, what other choice does a policeman have? In attempting to carry out their duty to American citizens, using force is sometimes just a part of the job.
Just yesterday, a top story in New Orleans news portals was revolved around a state trooper “body-slamming” an openly drunk man. The trooper was just getting off a twelve-hour shift when he was called into a bar on Bourbon Street to help remove an openly drunk man from the bar. The trooper urged the man and his brother to leave, but they refused, causing the trooper to attempt to arrest the man. When the man refused this, the trooper became physical, using the only means he could in order to keep others safe. The man was later charged with resisting arrest, public intoxication, and disrupting the peace.
For two days, this story was headline news in New Orleans. But why? Because it causes controversy. Many news videos only showed the clip of the trooper forcing arrest on the man, but not the open drunkenness or struggle that ensued beforehand, proving that the media is trying to portray police officers and state troopers in bad light.
My father is a state trooper, and my aunt works in the sheriff’s office, so as a result, I have grown up with family and family friends who work in law enforcement, meaning that I am likely to be biased. But it is time to stop belittling government safety officials for trying to complete their job. The Blue Lives Matter Bill protects these government officials from unnecessary harm because ultimately, the sheriff’s office just wants civilians to understand that if you obey to the commands and requests of an officer, then nothing bad will happen.
