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Florida Lawmakers Seek Expanded Hate Crime Coverage For Police, Fire
July 11, 2016
Two Republican lawmakers called Friday for expanding Florida’s hate-crimes law to include attacks on police officers and firefighters.
The proposal by state Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, and state Rep. Neil Combee, R-Polk City, came the day after five law-enforcement officers in Dallas were fatally shot and seven others were wounded. The Texas attack occurred during a demonstration protesting shootings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota.
Florida’s hate-crimes law increases penalties if offenses are based on factors such as race, religion, sexual orientation or mental or physical disability.
Baxley, who is running this year for a Central Florida Senate seat, announced in a news release that he and Combee would seek in 2017 to expand the hate-crimes law to address offenses against police officers and firefighters. Similar proposals were filed during the 2016 legislative session but did not reach the House or Senate floors.
“Law enforcement officers hold the fabric of our society together,” Baxley said in the news release. “An attack on them is an attack on our tradition of ordered liberty, and we must do everything possible to hold individuals who do them harm accountable.”
by The News Service of Florida
Pictured: Flowers outside Dallas Police Headquarters. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
10 Responses to “Florida Lawmakers Seek Expanded Hate Crime Coverage For Police, Fire”
Hate crimes are Orwellian, therefore anti-American. A crime is a crime. You cannot legislate thought.
And LEOs, not all of you are bad guys. That being said, I have a list of corrupt cop articles from all over the country a mile long saved on my computer. Bad cops ARE there. If you cannot, or will not, rethink that “blue brotherhood” and clean your departments up, I’m pretty sure that you could expect targeting sooner or later. Good people will only take being abused and overloarded for so long.
The same is happening politically with the people getting sick of the corruption and are cleaning house…it just hasn’t gotten to the point of another “Battle of Athens” …YET.
Let’s try to keep it that way.
hate crime is a nonsense term made up to add a race element
@LEO
Did you just say that an attack perpetrated on me or ems personnel is less of a deal than that of a leo because you are being targeted and we aren’t? Shame on you!
Being the ex and mother of a 2 yr old of a recently retired leo I’m glad not every leo thinks like you do. I’m sickened and horrified by the war being waged on L.E and my heart goes out to the family and friends left behind after any death.
The law shouldn’t differ because someone is being hunted or “suddenly attacked”. Violence is violence.
“there is a difference between being targeted and suddenly attacked”
Let me begin by saying that the war on our leo’s is real and that i am deeply saddened by what has been going on in the world as of late. My prayers go out to the friends and family of the fallen officers in Dallas and for all fallen leo’s families.
But violence is violence and it shouldn’t matter whether the crime is premeditated or impulsive or what kind of badge you have on. My ex is a retired leo and is the father of my 2 year old son. I also have friends that are in law enforcement so I am sadly aware of the monsters in the world and the war on our leo’s.
We need expanded protections for our first responders/police officers because they ARE being targeted at this point in time. The media is responsible in large part for not telling the whole story – but not all of them fall into this category. See the great article by a responsible source at the Washington Post below:
http://www.dailywire.com/news/7264/5-statistics-you-need-know-about-cops-killing-aaron-bandler
I am in law enforcement and I have been advised, along with my fellow officers, not to wear anything in public that identifies me as a LEO, and to ensure I have my weapon with me whenever feasible. We are in troubled times. The Ferguson Effect will have some serious consequences if this is not taken care of and soon!
Would someone please tell me the need for a label of “hate crime”? If a person murders someone, do you really need to add another charge? If you “hate” your neighbor and commit a crime against them, why should there be an additional charge just because your neighbor is of another race? A crime is a crime is a crime.
There is a difference between being targeted and someone suddenly attacking you. But yes they ahould cover all emergency personel.
Yes, let’s make things that are already illegal more illegal. Because if you’re going to attack a policeman, you’re going to spend some time considering whether it is a regular crime or some type of special crime before you do it.
Or, we could make sure laws apply equally to everyone.
Lawmakers should start by holding the media accountable for inciting riots and violence against law enforcement. They no longer report the simple facts. By adding fluff and lies to fit their agenda they make criminals into sweet innocent individuals that are persecuted by police. Sadly, a large segment of our population buys into this deception. .
And what about making it a hate crime for all first responders? As a paramedic, who has been in the back of an ambulance for five yrs, I can count on two hands how many times I’ve had to pull over and get out of my ambulance because I was being assaulted by the person I was trying to help. Just last week I got in a tussle with a mental pt that was calm one minute and punching me the next. My driver pulled over and I was able to get out until the police could arrive.