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State Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, who was a driving force
behind numerous criminal justice reforms known as the SAFE-T
Act, said the chiefs of police and sheriff’s associations are on
board with the change in House Bill 3904.
“It provides law enforcement a less lethal alternative to their
handgun thus reducing preventable police-involved shootings
while aiding in the de-escalation techniques and ultimately
keeping our officers and communities safe,” said Slaughter.
Slaughter said Illinois is behind the times when it comes to
tasers.
“As our General Assembly continues national best practices for
police policy, we saw that Illinois is one of the last states to
define tasers as deadly force,” said Slaughter.
A law that went into effect last year prohibits officers from
targeting tasers at someone’s head, neck, chest, groin or front
pelvis.
In 2019, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that stun guns and
tasers are bearable arms entitled to the protection of the
Second Amendment and that the state’s ban on such weapons is
unconstitutional.
Several measures are now on the books regarding policing in
Illinois, including a requirement that police track and report
to the state incidents in which officers use a gun on someone,
when use of force results in death or serious injury, and when
they’re dispatched to deal with someone experiencing a mental
health crisis.
As part of the SAFE-T Act, cash bail is set to be abolished in
2023 and all police officers in the state have until 2025 to be
equipped with body cameras.
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