Concern Rises Ahead Of Implementation Of Illinois ‘Anti-Police’ Legislation That Will Allow Criminals On The Streets

Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, after a horrific weekend in the city of Chicago that saw the shooting deaths of 50 people, GOP candidate for Illinois governor Darren Bailey made the suggestion that as bad as things are in the state right now, they are about to get a whole lot worse. That’s to be expected when you live in a state that is dedicated to stripping law abiding citizens of the right of owning a firearm as prescribed by the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Meanwhile, bad guys continue to buy weapons on the black market and use them against those who are unable to defend themselves.

TheBlaze is reporting that Bailey, who is currently serving as a state senator, put on a press conference in the city of Springfield featuring county sheriffs from all around Illinois. Bailey stated during the conference that the SAFE-T (Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity-Today) Act, which will go into full effect on the first of January next year, has already made it clear that it is a counter-productive measure, and the full effect will just end up making horrific conditions in cities like Chicago even worse. Heck, Bailey already calls Chicago a “hellhole.” How much worse could things get?

“The SAFE-T Act, signed into law by Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker on January 22, 2021, abolishes cash bail, prevents police from detaining a suspect on the basis of a risk assessment, and gives felons sentenced to home detention far greater latitude,” the report goes on to say.

Check out more details from TheBlaze report:

Ed Wojcicki, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police executive director, called it an “anti-police bill.”

While potentially making it easier for some criminals to stay out of jail, the law also imposes a host of restrictions and unprecedented requirements on police officers, including:

• creating a statewide decertification process for officers;
• enabling people to anonymously file complaints against officers;
• enabling investigations into anonymously sourced complaints;
• enabling complaint filings against officers without sworn affidavits or other legal documentation;
• removing requirements that officers under investigation must be informed of either the name of the complainant or the person in charge of the investigation;
• preventing police officers from reviewing body camera footage before writing a report about the incident;
• requiring officers to intervene if other officers use unauthorized or excessive force; and
• requiring that officers must issue a citation rather than arrest for traffic offenses, Class B and C criminal misdemeanor offenses, or petty and business offenses.

The state’s attorneys for Vermilion County, Kendall County, Shelby County, and Madison County all argued in a March op-ed that this legislation poses “a serious threat to public safety — specifically, to victims and witnesses of violent crimes in our community.” They argued that notwithstanding numerous amendments and changes made to the act, the end result still “contained various reactionary requirements inconsistent with long-standing and sound jurisprudence of our country and state.”

The attorneys then pointed out that one of the significant issues that will be brought about by the full implementation of the law is that “violent offenders who are released on electronic monitoring and choose to violate the terms of their release have to be in violation for 48 hours before law enforcement can do anything about it.” 

One of the examples the report provides is that of an abuser who is stuck on an electronic monitoring system being able to track down the person they were charged with abusing before law enforcement can respond to any of the indicators that the individual has violated the terms of house arrest. Which kind of defeats the whole purpose of having house arrest in the first place. You might as well just allow the person to walk free at that point.

“The Lake County News Sun reported that in order to detain persons charged with a crime before a trial, the state’s attorney must file a petition to detain with the presiding judge. The judge would subsequently determine whether the person was a threat or a flight risk. With cash bail gone, if the judge decides a person is a risk of some sort, no amount of cash bond will free him. However, to Mosser’s point, if a threat cannot be properly established, it is possible that violent offenders will be set free,” TheBlaze reported.

And if this isn’t scary enough for you, a report from ILACP stated that if some sick and twisted pervert was getting his jollies while taking a peek into your bedroom and you called the cops, they wouldn’t be able to physically remove him from the property. All they would be allowed to do is give him a citation. This is removing the teeth of law enforcement. What is the point of having cops at all if they can’t do something about someone like this?

This is just a snapshot of what’s wrong with this bill. It actually gets worse. Pray for the people of Chicago if this is allowed to take full effect.