Editorial: Did retired cop deserve a break with drug crime sentence?

In Pennsylvania, committing a crime against a police officer is another crime unto itself.

If you physically assault a police officer, you can be charged with assault and assault of a law enforcement officer. The same happens for murder. There is an additional charge for criminal homicide of a law enforcement officer. It is an enhancement that allows for the death penalty — in fact, it is the first enhancement noted, before torture or contract killing or murder of a child.

There is an obvious reason for this. It is meant as a deterrent. It is intended to dissuade someone from taking steps that would affect the safety of the community. Hurting or killing a police officer is a step that cannot be walked back.

This is important. Police do a necessary but dangerous job. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, more than 43,000 law enforcement officers were assaulted in 2021 alone and more than a third of those suffered injuries.

It is critical that laws protect our law enforcement. Writing the laws in that way is not just an attempt to guard the police. It is just as important for the protection of the individuals, like a warning drawn on the pavement: Do not cross this line.

But why do we not do more in the opposite direction?

Retired Greensburg police Officer Regina McAtee, 52, of New Kensington was sentenced Tuesday for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

“Ms. McAtee, I think you know I’m cutting you a break here,” U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon said as she sentenced McAtee to 36 months’ probation. “The crime you committed was incredibly serious.”

The judge was right. McAtee was involved in an interstate drug operation, ordering pills from online suppliers over the course of more than two years. She did it with the help of a co-worker. It started with 10 pills and escalated to 10 times as many. She paid for them with Cash App, like splitting a dinner check with a friend rather than committing a crime.

The problem is McAtee was still working as a Greensburg police officer at the time. Her co-worker, Shawn Denning, was her chief of police. McAtee retired after being suspended amid Denning’s legal problems and is collecting more than $5,000 a month in pension payments, to a total topping $100,000 to date.

The break Bissoon cut was to give McAtee a much lighter sentence than the 15-month prison term Denning will begin serving June 10, followed by two years of supervised release.

But is a light sentence fair to the community or police officers? If the justification for enhanced sentences or additional charges for crimes against police officers is to deter those crimes, shouldn’t the same be true of crimes committed by police officers?

Crimes like McAtee’s hide behind the badge. They are not only an offense against the people of Greensburg but also against every officer who wears the uniform honorably.

That is why police officers who betray that badge do not deserve a break or the easier road of probation, especially while picking up a public pension.