Two Massachusetts legislators filed a bill Monday that would extend the state’s hate-crime protections to police officers — a response, they said, to last week’s deadly attack in Dallas.

“When I woke up, like the rest of America, I felt terrible,’’ said state Representative Michelle DuBois, a Democrat from Brockton who filed the bill with Representative Alan Silvia of Fall River, who is also a Democrat.

Last month, Louisiana became the first state to add law enforcement and first responders to the list of those protected under hate crime statutes, which create special penalties for those who target others because of bigotry and prejudice.

The Massachusetts statute currently defines a hate crime as the physical assault or battery of a person or the destruction of someone’s property “because of such person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.’’ DuBois and Silvia’s bill would add “police officer’’ to that list.

“I was a police officer for 22 years in Fall River and no one knows better than I the danger faced by men and women who put their lives on the line every day under dangerous circumstances,’’ Silvia said in an interview. “They deserve every protection possible.’’

DuBois said she began drafting the legislation in May after authorities said Auburn police Officer Ronald Tarentino Jr. was shot and killed by Jorge Zambrano, a motorist with a history of assaulting police officers. But, she said, with the legislators’ session coming to a close, she planned to wait until next year to file the bill.

Then Dallas happened.

Five police officers were fatally shot by a black man allegedly in revenge for the deaths of people of color by police officers. Thursday’s tragedy occurred during a peaceful demonstration to protest the deaths of two black men by police officers in Minnesota and Louisiana.

Both DuBois and Silvia said it’s unlikely their bill will be voted on this session because it was filed so late.

Still, DuBois said her bill should not be seen as her taking sides in the national debate about the criminal justice system and communities of color. The bill, she said, eliminates the “us versus them’’ nature of the debate by signaling that support of the Black Lives Matter movement does not mean someone stands against police officers.

“I think it all goes together,’’ she said. “I believe black lives matter. I believe police lives matter.’’

Legal analysts and some civil rights groups caution against adding police officers to the hate crime statute. They argue it’s an occupation that already receives special protections under the law.

There are laws currently that make it a crime to assault public servants, including police officers, and Governor Charlie Baker recently filled a bill that would up the charge to a felony. (DuBois does not support this.)

“It’s already a crime to attack a police officer or kill a police officer,’’ said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology at Northeastern University. “I’m not sure what we gain from it. What happened in Dallas is extremely rare.’’

Howard Friedman, a Boston civil rights attorney, said what happened in Dallas “was an act of murder and terrorism, a crime of great magnitude and not one that an enhancement in the criminal statue is going to change.’’

The Anti-Defamation League strongly opposed the “Blue Lives Matter’’ bill that was signed into law in Louisiana, saying in May: “The list of personal characteristics included in hate crimes laws should remain limited to immutable characteristics, those qualities that can or should not be changed. Working in a profession is not a personal characteristic, and it is not immutable.’’

But Silvia said police officers in some places might “take off their uniforms and put on jeans, but they are still recognized as police officers wherever they go, so they and their families are in danger if people start using prejudice and hate based on the mere fact that they are police officers.’’

Fox said most police officers are injured or killed in the line of duty because they are responding to a crime or making an arrest, not because of underlying prejudices against police. Adding occupations to hate-crime laws would be akin to opening Pandora’s box, he said.

“What if there are people who don’t like politicians?’’ he asked. “There are people who assassinate politicians.’’

Akilah Johnson can be reached at akilah.johnson@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @akjohnson1922.