Recently, Assemblyman Brian Miller (R,I-New Hartford) signed on to co-sponsor legislation that will help protect first responders (law enforcement officials, fire fighters, and EMS personnel) from targeted attacks such as have been seen across the nation.

Assembly Bill (A.1652) designates violent crimes against first responders as hate crimes. The legislation is in response to the frequent ambushes and attacks on police and other emergency services personnel all over the United States.

“We live in a country that is experiencing a time of great turmoil for a number of reasons, and unfortunately people are lashing out in ways that are not helping the situation and causing harm to others,” said Miller. “Our police officers, fire fighters, and emergency services personnel are sent daily into the middle of the fray to protect and save innocent lives. Sadly, a seemingly growing collective of rogue people have taken to targeting these heroes with acts of violence that have caused life-threatening injuries and death to many first responders. These attacks have been perpetrated simply because the victims were wearing a uniform and/or badge of service in the community. That is the definition of a hate crime. This legislation seeks to define these acts as such under New York’s penal law.”

New York State has recently experienced several of these attacks. Most notably was the shooting of Officer Brian Moore in 2015, and in a separate attack just six months prior, officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in 2014. All were of the NYPD.