Designates offenses against law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel as hate crimes

Paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 1, states that a person has committed a hate crime, when he or she commits a specified offense and either intentionally selects the person against whom the offense is committed or intended to be committed to, or in part because of a belief or perception regarding race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability, sexual orientation of a person, or because of actual or perceived employment as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or emergency medical services personnel.

Part 2 of section 1 states that proof of race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation or employment as a law enforcement officer, a firefighter or as emergency medical services personnel of either or both the defendant and victim does not constitute as legally sufficient evidence in the court of law.

Lastly, paragraphs (c),(d), and (e) provide definitions for the terms "law enforcement officer", "firefighter", and "medical services personnel".

Section 2 lists the effective date.

Justification

There has been an increase in mortality rates of law enforcement officers, firefighters, corrections officers and emergency medical services personnel, within the past decade. In a report by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in 2014, statistics showed that approximately "126 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers died in the line of duty" which showed an increase in comparison to 2012 and 2013. The increase in the death toll has been in part, due to offenses intentionally aimed to harm first responders.

In 2009, a Cape Vincent, NY volunteer Emergency Medical Technician Mark Davis, was shot and killed by a patient whom he was trying to help (emsl news). Just three years later, Webster, NY Police Lt. and volunteer firefighter Mike Chiapperini and 911 Dispatcher Tomasz Kaczowka, were killed by a gunman who ambushed the firefighters by creating a fire at his home. Two other firefighters and one off-duty police officer was also injured in this attack (USA Today, 2012).

In 2014, two law enforcement officers from the NYPD - Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were murdered in an ambush-styled killing while they were sitting in their patrol car (USA Today, 2014). The offender claimed in a social media post prior to the murder, "I'm Putting Wings on Pigs Today." These intentional acts of harm sadly caused numerous

communities to lose loved ones whose dedicated and selfless service was greatly appreciated.

This is a problem that reaches across the county. In July 2016 five police officers were killed and nine were wounded in an attack in Dallas, Texas. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana three officers were killed and three were wounded as they were responding to a call just ten days later. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and the Washington Post, ambush killings of police officers have seen a dramatic increase over previous years.

This bill designates offenses aimed at first responders specifically because of their job as a law enforcement officers, corrections officers, firefighters, medical service personnel, etc as a "hate crime". This legislation intends to support and protect the men and women who devote their lives to protecting and serving the people of New York State.

Legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

Immediately.