Fall River Rep files bill to make attacks on police officers a hate crime
By Kirsten Glavin
@kirstenglavin
FALL RIVER, MA – Two Massachusetts Representatives, Alan Silvia and Michelle DuBois, filed a bill Monday that would make attacking a police officer, out of hatred for their profession, a hate crime.
Rep Silvia of Fall River said that currently, assaulting a police officer in Massachusetts a misdemeanor.
"It’s not unusual to see assault and battery on a police officer dismissed!" Sylvia explained to ABC6 News. "For that individual to be singled out for the mere fact that he is or she is a police officer, and targeted, this is where we would want the focus of the hate crime to be."
Charging assailants with hate crimes toughens penalties. That is the goal for Sylvia, especially after the recent attacks on officers in Dallas, Texas. The representative is also a 22–year veteran of the Fall River Police Department.
"I have seen in my career, police officers that were targeted because they were police officers."
The bill would add police officers to the list of protected classes under Massachusetts hate crime law.
"It’s not something that we see daily, but it’s something that police officers have experienced and it’s clearly wrong,” said Rep Sylvia.
