Police group raises concerns about Illinois’ criminal justice policies

[February 09, 2024]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – The debate around crime and punishment continues in Illinois.

Late last month, state Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, filed House Bill 4603 that would prohibit police from pulling over vehicles that speed, improperly change lanes, have excessive tint, no seatbelts and a variety of other violations. While he’s told media outlets he won’t advance the bill, Slaughter said it’s a conversation starter.

Illinois Fraternal Order of Police President Chris Southwood said the bill is a bad idea.

“With this particular bill, that wasn’t a conversation starter, that was a conversation ender,” Southwood told The Center Square. “There was nothing good in this bill for public safety. There was nothing good in this bill for law enforcement. There was just nothing in there worth talking about from a public safety standpoint.”

Southwood said he’s open to dialogue, but such legislation is not where to start.

During a Senate committee hearing this week, state Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, offered Senate Bill 2535 to create the Youth Nonviolent Crimes Resources Program with the goal of guiding youth to various services in an effort to reduce crime.

“That was the goal not only of this piece of legislation, but the [Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today] Act and other pieces of legislation that I have passed, and that we have passed as a General Assembly, to make sure that our communities stay safe,” Sims said.

Southwood said what needs to happen is for prosecutors to prosecute crimes. He also said a recent story in Dolton of a defendant facing murder charges awaiting trial on electronic monitoring being suspected of a mass shooting is proof the SAFE-T Act provision allowing two eight-hour periods of free movement time per week for such defendants is proving to be dangerous.

“It’s certainly not fair to the citizens of Illinois, I think their safety is endangered by this,” he said. “Hopefully someday we see the light, and something changes.”

ABC7 reports the suspect, Torrey Lewis, and another individual were found by police inside a vehicle at an auto parts supply store parking lot in Dolton earlier this month with gunshot wounds. Two other men with gunshot wounds were found outside the vehicle.

Lewis had bonded out of jail awaiting trial in 2020, years before the Pretrial Fairness Act that ended cash bonds statewide was enacted, but he was on electronic monitoring. It’s reported law enforcement reviewed Lewis’ GPS data that showed his movement the day of the mass shooting, including sometimes exceeding 100 mph.

The Illinois Network of Pretrial Justice told The Center Square the Dolton case is isolated and the vast majority of people on electronic monitoring return to court and are not rearrested while awaiting trial.

“There is nothing in Illinois law requiring the Sheriff to stop tracking individuals during this time,” the group said in a statement. “For years, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office denied people on electronic monitoring the ability to contribute to their households, perform life-affirming tasks, and even access healthcare. The electronic monitoring reforms in the Pretrial Fairness Act are intentionally designed to correct that history.”

Legislators are off until they return to the Illinois Capitol Feb. 20.