Consider change to hate crime laws carefully

I am writing today to encourage opposition to SB 5280, which adds police officers to those protected by hate crime laws. Occupation is a choice; race, sex, religion, orientation, and disabilities are not. This bill sends the wrong message to those discriminated for reasons out of their control. There are already additional penalties for crimes against law enforcement in our state. Adding them to hate crime laws misses the point, and detracts from what needs to be done to fight for equality for all. There is not a systemic issue of discrimination against police.

On top of this, Washington state has some of the strictest wording determining whether an officer can be held accountable for unjustified use of deadly force. We should support initiatives like I-873 - which removes the “with malice” wording from the requirement to bring charges against officers abusing their power. One does not need to be fully conscious of their racial biases the act upon them. I have grown up with many people who have racial biases, but do not consider themselves racist. We need better implicit bias and deescalation training for all of law enforcement, so that people like John T. Williams are not murdered by police for carving wood and being hard of hearing, so that people like Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin are not being shot and paralyzed for allegedly stealing beer. Police need to do better when it comes to using deadly force, and need to be held accountable when they don’t.

This story was originally published April 6, 2017 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Consider change to hate crime laws carefully."