ROCKFORD (WREX) – Six days ago, Democratic Senator Elgie Sims tabled a controversial 611-page bill to reform criminal justice. Since then we’ve looked at it from different angles.
Last Thursday we wrote a story about what was on the bill for the first time.
On Friday we dug deeper to see how this would affect our judicial system.
On Monday, we continued our reporting by speaking directly to law enforcement and lawmakers to get all the answers as lawmakers were able to approve these sweeping changes in less than 48 hours.
Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana told 13 WREX that he only learned of this police reform bill a few days ago, which he opposes and calls “an attack on the community.”
“To try to get this document through in a ‘lame duck meeting’ I don’t know, very, very, very worrying,” said Caruana.
Sheriff Caruana is having trouble getting bail off for cash or getting rid of the percentage of bonds people have to pay to get out of jail before their trial. He also criticizes the elimination of the qualified immunity for police officers, which protects officers from legal action if they are accused of violating a person’s rights.
But Senator Sims says reform is needed.
“Members of the community don’t trust law enforcement to be the focus of their interests,” Sims said. “They believe that there are two judicial systems and that is certainly not a perspective we can have.”
Sims represents the 17th district, the Chatham neighborhoods of Chicago.
Another concern of Caruana and other local law enforcement agencies is funding.
The bill includes several unfunded mandates for things like additional training and body cameras.
“I think some departments would find it impossible in the short term,” said Chuck Lynde, Loves Park police chief. “Some communities may not be able to afford body cameras.”
And although Lynde stated that his department recently took a second de-escalation training and the department is also in the process of getting body cameras, Loves Park doesn’t collect property tax. Mayor Greg Jury said this would be a problem if this bill were passed as Loves Park would have fewer opportunities to find funding than other communities.
“As for the staff, we would have to make some very difficult decisions,” said the jury. “Are we eliminating staff to pay for some of these unfunded mandates?”
And if the bill passes, some of those decisions may need to be made quickly as parts of the bill will take effect immediately while others would take effect on January 1, 2022.
Local Democratic State representative Maurice West, who supported the bill and helped draft some laws, including 40 hours of mandatory crisis intervention training, told WREX on a phone call late Monday evening that these unfunded mandates will have a source of funding.
“We have to fund it the most by looking at cannabis revenues,” West explained.
But despite strong opposition from local law enforcement agencies, lawmakers will ultimately have the final say on whether or not this reform bill moves forward. However, it is unclear when a vote could take place. No vote is currently planned in any of the chambers. In order for this to happen, however, a vote must be taken on Wednesday before noon, when the new legislature has its seat.
Read the full text of HB 163 here.