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.”
source – The News Service of Florida