By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – A package of criminal justice legislation which passed a year ago is an anti-cop, anti-safety albatross which some Democrats already want to repeal – according to Illinois House Republicans, who held a news conference Thursday.
House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) said it’s a continuing example of how the supermajority party is “either blissfully ignorant or actively trying to undermine our criminal justice system.”
A theme of the news conference was that Democrats are “defunding the police.” Repsonding to a question of exactly how, State Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis), said, “If you look at the mandates that have been placed on law enforcement without sufficient funding, that money has to come from somewhere. Then you have the loss of cash bail … and removal of some penalties for traffic offenses for collection of those fines and fees.”
State Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) added, “Part of funding the police means staffing police departments, and the crisis that has been created in law enforcement because of this bill has made it very, very difficult to hire police officers.”
Even before the Republicans’ news conference was over, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus was out with this statement:
“As usual with the Republican Party, any effort to make the justice system fairer for Black people is called ‘dangerous.’ With this law, we have worked directly with community organizations, legal rights advocates and law enforcement to make our justice system more effective and more just at the same time. That’s why the Illinois State Police and other law enforcement groups continue to work with us on this bill. “
Dave Dahl can be reached at News@WJBC.com.
