Comment on Attacks on police officers called 'hate crime'

CANDELARIA: Calls for tougher penalties Law enforcement officers should qualify as a protected group under hate crime laws, U.S. Marshal Conrad Candelaria said Thursday during a lunch attended by area business leaders, high-profile law enforcement and elected officials. Officers, he said, “are attacked and killed just because they wear a badge. That is a hate crime.” His comments came in the wake of recent violence against local law enforcement, including several officers being rammed by vehicles and the recent shootings of two, one of them fatal. There should be “tougher and enhanced penalties” for attacks on officers, who he said should be a class protected by hate crime statutes. The statements drew loud applause from the 140 people at the New Mexico Business Coalition’s annual Heroes Lunch.