Lawmakers: attacks on 1st responders hate crimes
Ulster County lawmakers are calling on state legislators to classify attacks on law enforcement personnel and first responders as hate crimes, despite concerns by some residents that the move will diminish the significance of the hate crime provision.
The memorializing resolution passed the Ulster County Legislature on Wednesday by a 15-8 vote that crossed party lines.
Legislator Ronald Lapp Jr., a retired New Paltz Police Department sergeant, introduced the measure, saying that, in light of attacks on police officers and emergency responders throughout the country, the state should toughen its own laws about “aggression” toward those who are called to protect or assist the public.
The resolution asks the state to amend its hate crime law to add the phrase “the occupation of trooper, deputy sheriff, police officer, peace officer and first responder.”
Prior to the vote, several county residents urged lawmakers to reject the proposal, saying that it would water down the hate crime law and “render hate crimes a meaningless designation under the law.”
“Currently, hate crime laws do not apply to people based on their occupation, but, rather, they apply to offenses motivated by an offender’s bias against an immutable characteristic — race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity,” said Shea Settimi, of Mount Tremper.
Rosendale resident Sarah Urech agreed. “The hate crimes law was passed to protect people based on a part of their identity.”
Not everyone agreed, however, including Legislator TJ Briggs, a former police officer and president of the Ellenville First Aid and Resuce Squad, who said he’s been in an ambulance that people were trying to tip over because they didn’t like who I was and what I represented.
“As far as I’m concerned, this is a hate crime, they’re attacking the uniform,” said Briggs, D-Ellenville.
Eliza Tinti, the wife of Kingston police chief Egidio Tiniti, said the law would send a message to the community that “blue lives matter.”