Blue Lives Matter
Thin blue line flag, commonly associated with the Blue Lives Matter movement | |
| Formation | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Active and retired law enforcement officers |
| Founded at | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Type | Social movement |
| Location |
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Blue Lives Matter (also known as Police Lives Matter) is a countermovement in the United States that aims to show solidarity with law enforcement. It emerged in 2014 in direct opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement and gained traction following the high-profile homicides of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in Brooklyn, New York. Supporters of Blue Lives Matter have called for crimes committed against police officers to be classified as hate crimes.
Critics have said that, while being Black is an inherent characteristic, being a police officer is a choice, and that police officers are already respected in most communities. They add that attacking or killing a police officer already carries a higher penalty than attacking a non-police officer in most states.