By Steve Pomper
Today, cops are not only being routinely physically assaulted by criminals but also legislatively assaulted by their political leaders who are supposed to support law enforcement and condemn criminality. In Richmond, on August 27, 2020, the Virginia Senate voted to downgrade some assaults on police officers from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Police1.com, via a Washington Post story, reported, assault charges will be reduced “if the officer doesn’t suffer bodily injuries or if the suspect is physically or mentally disabled.” Radical leftist Sen. Scott Surovell betrayed his apparent disdain for cops when he “cited cases such as an autistic teenager resisting arrest, or food being thrown at an officer.”
An autistic teenager arrested for assaulting a cop is so rare it should embarrass the senator for even using it as an example. Besides, most prosecutors would apply their discretion to adjust charges if warranted in such circumstances. After all, as the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reports, “Autism is known as a ‘spectrum’ disorder because there is wide variation in the type and severity of symptoms people experience.” To exempt all individual culpability based on such a wide spectrum seems inappropriate.
But the latter example is where Sen. Surovell gives away his apparent bias against police officers. He seems to think it’s not serious for someone to intentionally throw food at cops. It is a sign of enormous disrespect to throw food at a police officer. At this level of “minor” assault, physically, it’s probably second only to spitting at an officer.
The legislative exercise demonstrates hostility not only toward police officers but also toward all first responders. NBC 10 News reported the bill, “Eliminates the mandatory minimum term of confinement for an assault and battery committed against a judge; magistrate; law-enforcement officer; correctional officer… firefighter; or volunteer firefighter or any emergency medical services personnel and provides that such crime can no longer be committed as a simple assault and must result in a bodily injury.”
While a significant part of a police officer’s job is to investigate crimes, including assault, the assaults are usually committed by a civilian suspect against a civilian victim. Once in a while a suspect assaults a cop. The strict laws against assaulting cops are (were) in place to make it an extremely serious offense to assault a police officer even if it’s considered physically minor.
As you consider the definitions contained within the bill we are discussing, remember, a hard hand slap in the face, punch in the arm, or kick in the shin may hurt, but it does not cause “bodily injury.” In fact, an assault can be quite painful but not cause an injury. Recall the famous line in the movie G.I. Jane, “are you hurt… or are you injured.”
I’m not saying these laws shouldn’t be discussed and debated, perhaps they should. Actually, I’m not a big fan of mandatory anything as a legal tool, generally. But at a time when police officers are under such an assault from anti-cop forces, this really seems like piling on and is a continuation of the chipping away at the foundation of the criminal justice system.
These woke legislators need to remember when a criminal assaults a police officer, he or she is not only assaulting the individual wearing the badge, he or she is assaulting the rule of law and civil society itself.
Cops, figuratively, hold the shields and wield the swords against those who would harm their communities. When criminals assault officers it is not because they are attacking Mr. Chris Smith or Ms. Lori Wong the individuals. It doesn’t matter who they are, individually, they are police officers, and we are resisting their enforcement of society’s laws.
It’s because they are wearing a uniform, badge, and gun, and they are doing a job on behalf of their communities. Criminals who assault police officers are also assaulting the rule of law, which is comprised of laws their communities, states, and nation have established through the legislative process.
Virginia’s legislators have recently taken a hard left turn politically. The legislature, the Senate and the House, along with the governor and certain Bond villain billionaire-funded district attorneys, have been assaulting traditional Americans’ rights in Virginia. They’ve attacked Virginians’ Second Amendment rights and are now attacking cops who exist to protect the people, and which are one of the few remaining conservative institutions remaining in our country.
It seems logical that the law, as a felony, deters people from assaulting cops. So, what happens when you weaken laws that protect police officers? You increase the chances a criminal will assault a cop. Anyone think reducing any crime from a felony to a misdemeanor will mean less of that crime occurring? Does that even make sense?
This display of enormous disrespect for police officers by certain politicians is devastating to the rule of law in America. I’ll conclude by leaving you with this recent event which emphasizes the importance of community’s maintaining a robust police force.
Following the last night of the Republican National Convention, held in Washington D.C. at the White House, crowds of radicals swarmed the streets outside the gates. They approached and Muharassed people leaving the event. Obviously, you are not allowed to disagree with the mob.
Republican Senator Rand Paul and his wife were two attendees simply attempting to walk to their hotel. Something most Americans have taken for granted until political leaders like D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who seems a bit of a political chameleon, abdicate their responsibility to provide effective public safety.
Sen. Paul said a violent mob was about to descend on he and his wife when they fortunately found some D.C. police officers just as the crowd recognized the senator. The officers “formed a wall around Paul and his wife, Kelly Paul” and their two friends. On FOX News video, you can see Mrs. Paul tucked in and clutching at the back of an officer’s uniform. Sen. Paul said he sincerely believes he and his wife would not be alive if they hadn’t been taken under the protection of the cops.
Sadly, with all of the serious assaults and murders that have occurred during the course of the rioting across our nation, Sen. Paul’s comments are not an exaggeration. They are today’s reality for normal people in America that has devolved into an anti-police state in many of our cities—including our nation’s capital.