‘An anti-law enforcement law’: Grundy County state’s attorney, others speak out against police reform bill

MORRIS – After Gov. JB Pritzker on Feb. 22 signed into law a sweeping police reform package, state Rep. David Allen Welter, R-Morris, and area law enforcement officials including Grundy County State’s Attorney Jason Helland and Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley met Friday in the upstairs courtroom at the Grundy County Courthouse to discuss the need to change some portions of House Bill 3653.

“As we know, Gov. Pritzker signed a massive criminal justice reform bill into law Monday [Feb. 22],” Helland said to a room full of law enforcement officers from various jurisdictions, including the Grundy County Sheriff’s Department and the Morris, Minooka, Mazon and Coal City police departments. “The criminal justice reform bill will burden downstate communities and put average law-abiding citizens at risk.”

The bill, first introduced as HB 163 on Jan. 5 by the state Legislative Black Caucus, has been shrouded in criticism from law enforcement officials, politicians and others who have deemed it a threat to public safety. In signing the bill, Pritzker described it as “a substantial step toward dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our communities, our state and our nation.”

HB 3653 includes an end to cash bail, requires body cameras for all officers, aims to establish use-of-force standards statewide and grants more state power over who can be a member of law enforcement, among other provisions, Shaw Media previously reported. The law goes into effect July 1, although certain provisions, such as use-of-force changes, will take effect in the coming years.

Helland on Friday described HB 3653 as “an anti-law enforcement law,” saying that “this law was crafted with little or no input from the policyholders, the [Illinois] Sheriff’s Association, law enforcement associations, state’s attorneys associations.”

In response to similar criticism that law enforcement wasn’t asked for input on the bill, the Black Caucus in January released a statement asserting that while crafting the bill, it hosted several “subject matter expert hearings ... during which members of law enforcement were invited to testify and present their point of view.”

One of the key components that needs to be changed, Helland said Friday, is the removal of cash bail for offenders, which is scheduled to become law in January 2023.

“The law is going to have a devastating effect on the future of the law enforcement profession. The law will eliminate the use of the cash bail system throughout the state and makes dozens of changes to the criminal justice reform. In effect, the General Assembly has created a ‘catch and release’ state,” Helland said.

“This law mandates that murderers, drug dealers, child molesters, arsonists, kidnappers and all other criminals can be released after arrest prior to a trial,” Helland said.

Welter also said Friday that he was worried the elimination of cash bail will allow violent offenders to be back on the street and able to commit other violent crimes rather than cool off in jail and not commit more crimes.

Although the law will eliminate cash bail, it does not unilaterally remove the ability to hold an offender before trial, Capitol News Illinois reported. Exceptions from pretrial release under the new law include forcible felonies such as first-degree murder, sexual assault, arson and any other felony involving the use or threat of physical force; stalking and aggravated stalking where the defendant poses a threat to the victim if released; abuse or battery of a family member where their release poses a danger to that family member; gun crimes where the defendant poses a threat to a specific, identifiable person; and cases where the defendant has committed a felony that wouldn’t otherwise result in detention, but they are considered a high risk of fleeing prosecution and missing their court date.

Police reform advocates long have said that cash bail has a disproportionate impact on those who are poor, especially those from Black and Latino communities, who often are detained on nonviolent or otherwise minor crimes because they cannot afford bail.

“I encourage anyone to look at our jail population in Grundy County to see whether the county is engaged in mass incarceration of the poverty-stricken,” Helland said. “It’s just not there. The offenders that are in jail have been determined to be a danger to the community by myself, the State’s Attorney’s Office and the judges.”

Helland noted that Illinois is the first state in the U.S. to eliminate cash bail, something Helland said the Illinois State Bar Association expressed pride for during a Friday conference call that Helland attended.

“Being first at anything out of 50 states isn’t a good situation,” Helland said. “Dangerous offenders are not going to be required to post bond. They are going to be able to reoffend and put the victims of their crime and their families at risk.

“It is a disaster, and that is why we are here today: to have a discussion about an action plan on how to move forward with the General Assembly,” Helland said.

Helland said there must be discussions with legislators about which changes are negotiable and that law enforcement officials need to have a “seat at the table” while these negotiations are taking place. He said changes must be made in order to protect the public.

“We are concerned about several unintended consequences of the law,” Helland said.

Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley then stepped to the podium and laid out some scenarios that may occur under the new law.

“This bill removes safeguards currently in place to protect our officers and our citizens,” Briley said. “It includes language that will empower and embolden criminals. The unintended consequences of this bill could be detrimental to citizens and communities across the state. We support reform, but too much of this bill is flawed.

“Citizens will no longer be protected by routine police activity to stabilize tense situations such as removing an unwanted person from a residence or business. If you call the police because an unwanted person is peeking in your windows or standing in your yard or place of business and you don’t want them there, you call the police. But the police cannot physically remove that person. All they can do is issue a citation, much like a traffic ticket. Then, if the unwanted person still doesn’t leave, and is not being threatening, then the police will have no authority to arrest them or get them to move along. This applies to all Class B and Class C misdemeanors.”

Briley also said that some scenarios involving police use of force, body cameras and an offender obstructing or resisting arrest would be adversely affected by the new law.

Briley concluded by saying that citizens need to act now by writing to their legislators and asking that some of the language in the new law be changed. He noted that Welter and state Sen. Sue Rezin both voted against the new law.

Welter then took the podium and emphasized that police officers have the citizens’ backs and are there to protect the citizens. He then proceeded to call the bill “the criminals’ bill of rights.”

“We had this 746-page bill dropped on us the morning of the vote,” Welter said. “For any legislator to look you in the eye and say they read this bill and understood the implications of it would be a bald-faced lie. I am still reading the bill and trying to understand different portions of it, and that is with having a legal staff at my disposal to get back with me on certain questions that I have.

“All of you at a local level have done a great job of informing our community and letting them know how this may impact us. We have to do more. The governor has signed the bill. What do we do now?

“There are portions of this bill that go into effect before others. We have to educate, mobilize and make sure our community knows the impact of this bill. As Sheriff Briley talked about, hopefully we can get some trailer bills, bills that will follow the main objective of a bill that has already passed to maybe clean up. There is going to be strong opposition to that, and people that don’t want to give an inch. But we have to keep putting on pressure by educating enough people. We should be able to have our voices heard.”

Helland then said that law enforcement needed to get in front of this and educate the public, as well as talk to legislators about the impact this bill has.

“Some things I have seen is that morale in state’s attorneys’ offices, police departments and sheriffs’ departments has dropped as a result of the bill. We want to encourage everybody to know that law enforcement is a noble profession.

“We need to have intelligent, commonsense conversations with the legislators. They know what the different associations – the State’s Attorney’s Association, the [Illinois] Sheriff’s Association – are going to say. We are going to say we are against this. But they also need to know the ripple effect it has on the communities.

“In our community, we have a lot of crime right off the interstate. Like at Walmart, criminals get off the interstate, walk right in and steal stuff from Walmart that they turn around and sell for drug money. If we can’t hold somebody that is actively involved in drug addiction and committing crimes to feed that addiction, we can’t get them downstairs in the basement and clear their mind out, then they are right back out doing more crimes. We are concerned about the safety of the community.”