McLean County Times

State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) joined the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus in pleading their case for Democrats to do something about what they describe as a “crime wave” sweeping the state.

Rose decried at a recent press conference Democrats’ lack of action since October when Republicans offered proposals to reduce crime. At the press conference on Feb. 1 at the Capitol rotunda, Senate Republicans presented an updated legislative package that targets violent crime, a press release said.

The package has several proposals to target crime and support law enforcement, including requiring defendants to serve at least 85% of their sentences if they commit aggravated battery against a police officer or bring a weapon or contraband into a penal institution, and providing a mandatory 10-year sentence for first-time convictions and life sentences for second-time offenses for such crimes as aggravated vehicular hijacking or aggravated carjacking.

“We were here in October to offer reasonable proposals to help reduce crime, but the Democrats who control Springfield have refused to act in the months since then,” Rose said in the press release. “We’re here again, demanding the Democrats take action to protect the people of Illinois from the violence on our streets.”

The legislative package includes a “Fund the Police Act,” which would provide grants of $125 million per year to local governments for several initiatives, including hiring, rehiring and retention of law enforcement officers. The Republican senators’ legislative package also contains bills to help stop the flow of illegal guns to criminals and provides mental health treatment to detainees.

The package also calls for the repeal of the bail provisions of the “SAFE-T Act.”

Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act into law in February 2021. Among several aspects, the law abolishes cash bail, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority said.

“The 2021 Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act enacts extensive reform impacting many areas of the criminal justice system, including pre-arrest diversion, policing, pretrial, sentencing, and corrections,” the Authority said.

In the meantime, Illinois House Republicans have introduced the resolution HR598 to repeal the SAFE-T Act. As of Feb. 4, 6,699 people have signed an online petition to repeal the legislation.

“House Democrats voted yes, House Republicans voted NO. Violent crime is up, police retirements are increasing, and our communities are less safe,” the petition said. “House Republicans are sponsoring legislation that would repeal the so-called ‘SAFE-T Act.’”