Capitol Fax – February 25, 2021

The tone police should maybe watch its own tone

Thursday, Feb 25, 2021

* Center Square…

Springfield Alderman Chuck Redpath had a different take. As someone with a law enforcement background, he said the new law makes him sick to his stomach and is a “slap in the face” for law enforcement.

“I saw the picture this morning of the governor touting how much he’s going to fix racism in police departments and surrounded by all these people from Chicago, the most corrupt city in not just the state of Illinois but probably the country and they’re going to tell us how to reform our police departments,” Redpath said. “Are you serious?” ...

* And while opponents have said they want changes, they apparently haven’t yet offered any…

[Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police] Executive Director Ed Wojcicki called the bill the “anti-police bill” in a statement Monday but noted law enforcement was already working with the bill’s supporters “to fix the most serious problems.”

[Sen. Elgie Sims], however, said despite months of pushback he has yet to see what language opponents of the bill would rather see in the law.

“I have heard from and talked to a number of organizations related to different parts of the new law,” he said. “Like others, I am still waiting for specific proposals.”

Wojcicki, however, has been called out by some of his own members…

In a statement earlier this month, Wojcicki referenced a “powerful” conversation he had with Black senior law enforcement personnel, and noted it was “painful to hear” their experience of being mistreated because of their race.

“They think that our association and I should acknowledge that the bill did not emerge from nowhere. It emerged from festering frustration from the black community about personal negative experiences with the police during their lives,” he said in the statement, while praising their ability to shape the conversation in a way that will build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

And yet, he went on to claim the legislation was “anti-police” and whined about the governor’s tone.

* The pearl-clutching over the governor’s push-back is quite something to behold, particularly considering some of the things they’ve said…

“This is a very devastating piece of legislation for law enforcement and the communities that we serve,” said Lower, who serves on the Illinois Sheriffs Association’s legislative committee, to WCBU. “It will basically gut law enforcement. It takes away all of law enforcement’s ability to do our job.”

No hyperbole there.

Media coverage of this bill has been mainly regurgitating law enforcement talking points.

* But, give Pritzker credit. Instead of just waiting in silence for the heat to blow over, the governor went on a Downstate barn-storming tour with Black Caucus members and others yesterday, including those who didn’t start out supporting some of the bill’s provisions…

State Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign, said he initially opposed ending cash bail, but eventually came around to supporting it.

“What I’ve learned … is that cash bail doesn’t keep anybody safer,” he said. While judges may think they’re sending a message with a high bond, that doesn’t work if the suspect has access to money, he added.

“The next thing you know, no matter how high the bond was set, they were out and the witnesses and the victims were very scared,” Bennett said. “If you’re not a violent offender, you should have a chance to prove you’re willing to come to court the next time, until you prove that you’re not going to take that seriously.”

* However, you have to read to the end of this story to see a single substantive argument from the prevailing side…

During the more than hour-long news conference at Proctor Center, legislators lauded the new law. Among them was Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth of Peoria, who adamantly objected to the notion that the new law makes communities less safe.

“That’s simply not true,” she said. “They will tell you that … there are victims out there who are now going to be in danger. That too, ladies and gentlemen, is not true.”

Gordon-Booth’s own family has been traumatized by violent crime. Her stepson Derrick Booth Jr. was fatally shot in the spring of 2015.

“My family’s story is like so many families’ stories across this country. Families from communities like this, they are the most harmed, they are the least served. And the fact of the matter is that victims’ voices have been leveraged to create an industrialized prison system that does not make communities more safe. Those policies have actually made communities far less safe,” said Gordon-Booth.