Governor Edwards's Blue Lives Matter Law

Remember when the Governor signed this monstrosity everyone praised his political savvy.  Check out our law-and-order son of a Sheriff Democrat.  Certainly no racist gun nuts can vote against him now.  That sort of thing.

Meanwhile, as the sycophants tally up imaginary political points, the terrible law does actual damage in the real world.

The New Orleans Police Department was wrong to book a man who cussed at officers with an anti-police hate crime, the department's communications director Tyler Gamble said in a Thursday afternoon email.  Raul Delatoba, 34, used racist and sexist epithets to address the police he encountered early Monday morning, and initially the police decided that Delatoba's disrespect rose to the level of a felony.

But Gamble wrote in his email, "After reviewing the initial facts of the case, it is clear that the responding officer incorrectly applied the law relative to a hate crime in this incident."  Gamble said the district attorney's office will have to make the final decision regarding what charges Delatoba will face, if any. "In the meantime," he wrote, "we are in the process of training all officers and supervisors on the updated law to ensure it is applied properly moving forward."

It's hard to imagine the "Blue Lives Matter" law being "applied properly" because the "Blue Lives Matter" law was unnecessary legislation that Gov. John Bel Edwards never should have signed.  There were already enhanced penalties for hurting law enforcement officers.  So what does the law do except give police permission to newly interpret obnoxious behavior as felonies?

The law is bad on its face, and no amount of training of officers and supervisors is likely to redeem it.

If the Governor signs a piece of shit law because it's politically expedient, then I'm sure he won't mind us appending his name to the law whenever it's mentioned.