Recently, there has been a great deal of debate about whether the murder of a police officer should be treated any different that the murder of a civillian. For instance, five years ago, the police representatives in the UK were appalled by the news that Harry Roberts, the man behind the murder of three police officers, was released. A serial criminal with a history of violence, Roberts killed three unarmed policemen on duty and spent 45 years in prison. Many public personas called the decision “a slap in the face” and a total betrayal of the policing system (Walker). Later that year, former prime minister Theresa May started a dialogue on creating a separate category for murdering a police officer with the UK criminal justice system and making the said status of a victim an aggravating factor.
Surely, the legal systems of the US and the UK are only comparable to a certain extent. However, I can see the possibility of such a proposal making its way to the upper echelons in the United States as well. Recently, the public sentiment has turned its attention to the plight of police officers. A new movement emerged – Blue Lives Matter, taking its name after another human rights movement, Black Lives Matter, with the purpose of discerning the murder of police officers from similar crimes.
While I understand the rationale behind these movements and legal proposals, I think that there is a need for further differentiation. It is impossible to determine exactly whether the killing of a police officer is worse than the killing of a citizen without factoring in the motives of a crime. The Constitution of the United States ensures equality of all people before the law; it is the very foundation of democracy. From an ethical standpoint, there is no difference between the inherent values of two people, police officers or not. Therefore, the attention should be redirected to more nuanced moments to expose possible dangerous social tendencies.
One situation is when someone kills a police officer without knowing exactly their occupation, for instance, when the latter is not on duty and, therefore, not wearing a uniform. In this case, the killing should be treated as any other and not considered as any more grave. The same goes for the killing of a police officer because of a personal conflict as long as it has nothing to do with their occupation. However, the killing becomes more serious once it may as a hate crime, i.e. singling out a person and targeting them on the grounds of their belongingness to a certain demographic. To my understanding, hate crimes are symptoms of broader tendency, in this case, the public’s disdain for police officers. If that is the case, then the killings of police officers deserve a more thorough investigation. To sum up, the answer to the question is yes, sometimes, depending on specific circumstances.