Executive Order 13774: Preventing violence against law enforcement

What the Executive Order Says

Executive Order 13774 is entitled "Preventing Violence Against Federal, State, Tribal and Local Law Enforcement Officers" and was issued on February 9th, 2017.  It has 3 sections.

Section 1

This section defines the policy which is that the protection and safety of law enforcement officers needs to be enhanced through enforcement of current laws, development of new strategies and recommend new laws.

Section 2

This section defines how this policy will be implemented.  This will include strategy on prosecuting individuals who commit violence against law enforcement, make recommendations to changes in law, and look at grant funding programs and whether these support or detract from violence against law enforcement.

Section 3

This section includes the usual legal fine print to assure the constitutionality of the Executive Order.

My Commentary

So part of the thinking behind this is that if the punishment for any act that could harm the safety, etc. of a law enforcement officer is so huge, then people will try not to do those things.  I doubt that it will work.  If memory serves, one of the motivating incidents was the July 2016 shootings in Dallas where 5 law enforcement officers were killed.  This was a signature theme by the Republican candidate during the election and it was also mentioned during the inaugural address.
Violence against police is a real issue and it is exceedingly complicated.  As things are today, law enforcement takes significant measures to assure their personal safety and to some degree, are so conservative that there are criticisms of over-application of force in the name of safety.  Solving this problem is a cultural issue and one that needs to generally de-escalate the existing polarized attitudes in society today.  There are two sides, both sides have some work to do if the level of violence is going to come down.  Additionally, issues such as racism and organized gangs will have to be solved as a part of the process, not to mention drug addiction and mental illness.
Fundamentally, there is an unstated assumption of us vs. them in how this EO was written.  The problem will not be solved unless that attitude changes.