I really like this post and the topic being discussed. I completely agree that making punishment more severe is not necessary. The example of what punishment an intoxicated person who assaulted an officer would receive under the new bill was a punishment of possible life in prison. For obvious reasons this seems overboard to me. Who do you usually want to avoid when intoxicated? Police. Who is usually an asshole to you when you do have to face them intoxicated? Police. Who is a drunk person most likely not going to be nice to? Police.
I am not making excuses for these people but I am saying this is common nature and this law could be very harsh on people who really just had too much to drink and opened their big mouth or thought they could get away with pushing an officers hand off them. Drunk people are rarely tame and tend to be rowdy which officers know. Any officer would be in a position to taunt a drunk person knowing how severe their consequences will be, which sometimes I think is all that really matters to cops. It would just be very unfortunate for someone to get a PI that turns into life in prison. Lets focus on the real criminals that need to be detained first.
The 3 experiences I have had with cops have been awful so I am definitely biased. But police officers often try to make it hard to get along with them because of what blatant assholes they tend to be (not all of them obviously). Cops are people just like us; they can be unfair, they make mistakes and they don't live in a world of black and white rules.
Assaulting a cop can be even the most minor of touches. Does it make sense to send someone to jail for touching another human?? What about all of the incidents of cops KILLING innocent or unarmed people. Forced resignation, maybe an investigation and a court date but I can guarantee none of them received life in prison. With this being said it just doesn't make sense to put cops on a hierarchy where they can't be touched unless you want life in prison. We are all humans including the boys in blue; lets not forget.
