Story highlights Louisiana makes it a hate crime to target police and first responders 
 
 "Blue Lives Matter" bill is a response to "Black Lives Matter" slogan 
 
 (CNN) With the nationwide friction between the Black Lives Matter movement and supporters of law enforcement as a backdrop, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a bill Thursday expanding the state's hate crime statute to include the targeting of police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel. 
 
 "Coming from a family of law enforcement officers, I have great respect for the work that they do and the risks they take to ensure our safety," Edwards said Thursday, adding, "They deserve every protection that we can give them." 
 
 Traditionally, a crime is considered a hate crime if the victim is targeted because of identity-based characteristics such as their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. 
 
 If a defendant is convicted of a hate crime, additional penalties are tacked on to the sentence; in Louisiana, that could mean up to five more years in prison with hard labor and a $5,000 fine for felonies such as murder, assault and battery, rape, etc. For a misdemeanor, it could be another six months in prison and a $500 fine. 
 
 Louisiana becomes the first state to add one's chosen vocation to that list, something that has rankled opponents. 
 
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 Hate crime statutes originated as a response to bigotry, a special penalty for singling people out for abuse based on factors like race, ethnicity, sex, religion, sexual orientation or, most recently, gender identity. On Thursday, Louisiana became the first state to add law enforcement officers to that list. 
 
 A bill signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards on Thursday set off a debate over whether the measure was really needed to protect officers, or whether, as civil rights groups charged, it was an effort to dilute the basic meaning of hate crimes and to undermine the movement protesting the use of force by the police. A similar bill is pending in Congress. 
 
 The action comes at a time of fierce national debate over policing and race. The high-profile deaths of African-Americans at the hands of the police — from Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., to Eric Garner in New York City — have prompted intense criticism of law enforcement. That criticism has come in street demonstrations and on social media, spawning the Black Lives Matter movement. Some law enforcement groups have charged that those protests have led to an increase in attacks on police officers, though there is little data to support that. Still, some supporters of law enforcement have adopted the slogan, “Blue Lives Matter.” 
 
 “I’ve read various accounts of people who I would say were employing a deliberate campaign to terrorize our officers,” said State Representative Lance Harris, a Republican and the author of the Louisiana measure. “I just wanted to give an extra level of protection to the people who protect us.”
– Targeting a police officer, firefighter, or EMT in Louisiana is now considered a hate crime. On Thursday Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a "Blue Lives Matter" bill that made the state the first to add those professions to race, ethnicity, religion, and other areas traditionally covered by hate crime laws, CNN reports. "The men and women who put their lives on the line every day, often under very dangerous circumstances, are true heroes and they deserve every protection that we can give them," said Edwards, a Democrat whose father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were sheriffs and who has two brothers working in law enforcement. The bill passed the state Senate by a 33-3 vote and sailed through the House 92-0. The expansion of the hate crime law was cheered by law enforcement groups, though critics noted that violence against police officers is close to an all-time low and those who target cops already face stiffer penalties, the New York Times reports. Jim Bueermann, a former police chief who's president of the Police Foundation research group, says it's good that the law "can reinforce the notion that hatred of a group because of who they are has no place in our society," though he warns that the law's supporters may find it has unexpected consequences. "At some point, someone might suggest that abortion physicians should also be protected," he says. "That if you are hunted down because of your profession, whatever the profession, that should be a hate crime."