* Tribune…

The House early Tuesday evening voted 95-5 to approve a measure that would create a new state fund to help recruit and retain officers and lower the retirement age for some Illinois State Police employees, among other steps aimed at addressing law enforcement staffing issues.

It’s unclear how the measure, sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Dave Vella of Rockford, will fare in the Senate or whether it will be part of a larger Democratic proposal.

Republicans largely voted in favor of the legislation to avoid “no” votes being used against them in an election year, but nonetheless were critical.

“This isn’t state government — this is an apology,” Republican Rep. Andrew Chesney of Freeport, who voted for the bill, told Democrats during the debate. “You are suffering from political amnesia because your policies hurt people, and now, you want a redo.”

Legislatures redo and readjust and reevaluate all the time, particularly after an over-reach. They announce “final passage” just before bills clear the second chamber, but nothing is ever truly settled law. And Rep. Chesney voted “Yes” on that bill and numerous other public safety bills last night after most reporters’ deadlines. Must’ve been decent bills.

* House public safety dot points…

House Democrats
Public Safety Package Fact Sheet April 5, 2022

HB 1097 – Eavesdropping and Gang RICO 2-year Extension (L. Hernandez/Costa Howard/Manley) – Introduced April 5

- Extends the Illinois Street Gang and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Law (RICO) for two years from June 11, 2022 to June 11, 2024.
- Extends qualified exemptions to the eavesdropping section of the Criminal Code used by law enforcement for two years from Jan. 1, 2023 to Jan. 1, 2025. Qualified exemptions include drug and sex offenses.

HB 1100 – Car Crime Package (Delgado/Croke/Stava-Murray/Ford/Buckner) – Introduced April 5

- Makes it a Class 1 felony for the offense of predatory vehicular hijacking for any person 18 years or older who knowingly commands or coerces a minor under age 18 to commit an offense of vehicular hijacking.
- Provides grants for programs that provide street level intervention services for at-risk youth in danger of being recruited for purposes of predatory vehicular hijacking.
- Allows victims of violent crimes that result in towing fees for their vehicle to seek compensation through the Crime Victims Compensation Act.
- Expands the scope of the Illinois Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention and Insurance Verification Council to allow for multi jurisdictional law enforcement cooperation and funding to combat vehicular hijacking.

HB 1095 – Victim/Witness Package (Gordon-Booth/Gonzalez/Buckner/Manley) – Introduced April 5

- Establishes the Co-Responder Pilot Program at police departments in East St. Louis, Peoria, Springfield, and Waukegan. Focused on behavioral health, these units would be tasked with helping to coordinate social services with violence survivors, including trauma- informed crisis intervention, assistance with finding safe housing, victim advocacy, and counseling.
- Provides that the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) shall establish and administer a program to assist victims and witnesses of violent crimes – including help with temporary living costs, moving expenses, rent, security deposits, and other appropriate relocation expenses.
- Requires all ISP homicide investigator training to include instruction on victim-centered, trauma-informed investigation no later than July 1, 2023.

HB 1103 – Tech/Camera Package (Greenwood/Zalewski/A. Williams/Manley) – Introduced April 5

- Increases highway cameras beyond Cook County expressways to include highways in 21 other counties – and allows footage to be kept for 180 days.
- Expands the purpose of using highway cameras beyond offenses involving a firearm – including investigations of forcible felonies, detecting highway conditions and safety hazards, and any law enforcement agency conducting an investigation.
- Creates a $1 million pilot incentive program for residential security cameras – allowing individual residential security camera owners to submit footage to law enforcement for a $100 reward if the footage contributes to the criminal conviction of an offender.

HB 1568 – Police Retention and Recruitment Package (Vella/Yednock/Stuart/Buckner/Manley) – Introduced April 4

- Creates deferred retirement option plans (DROP) for Illinois State Police troopers under the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) and sheriff’s law enforcement employees under the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF).
- Lowers the retirement age for select Illinois State Police employees from 60 to 55 years of age.
- Creates the Illinois Law Enforcement Recruitment and Retention Board (including representation from Chicago) and an associated
fund.
- Tasks the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, the Illinois Board of Higher Education, and the Illinois Community
College Board with creating a report with recommendations to the General Assembly for establishing minimum requirements for
credits that may transfer from Illinois colleges to satisfy the requirements of law enforcement and correctional intern courses.
- Allows retiring sheriffs, investigators, security employees, and probation officers to purchase their badge and service firearm.

HB 1571 – First Responder and Shift Worker Child Care (Manley/Collins/Stuart/Vella) – Introduced April 4

- Creates the Off-Hours Child Care Act, which allows the Department of Human Services (DHS) the flexibility to design an off-hours child care program that meets the needs of first responders and off-hours workers. The implementation date is July 2023 following a DHS study, which is due to the General Assembly in Jan. 2023.
- Recognizes that finding child care is a burden on third shift workers (e.g. firefighters, paramedics, police, nurses, etc.) because
most child care centers in Illinois are only open during normal work hours.

HB 1321 – Law Enforcement Mental Health (LaPointe/Hurley/Ortiz/Gong-Gershowitz/Conroy) – Introduced April 4

- Creates a fund and grant program to provide behavioral health services to first responders.

* Restore Justice…

Hi Rich - I am sharing Restore Justice’s statement on HB 1100, HFA 2, which will create a new Class 1 felony for predatory vehicular highjacking. We oppose this bill and encourage the Legislature to instead invest in solutions that would actually deter carjacking and other crimes. Restore Justice Illinois | Oppose HB1100, HFA 2 and a Return to Over-Incarceration Policies

• Current sentences for robbery and vehicular carjacking in the state of Illinois are severe, and Illinois already has some of the strongest gun enhancement penalties in the country.
• Vehicular hijacking carries a penalty of 4-15 years in prison. If the individual is armed with a gun, they must serve an additional mandatory minimum sentence of at least 20 years in prison.
• The average sentence for people currently in the Illinois Department of Corrections for vehicular hijacking or aggravated vehicular hijacking is already more than 16 years. Three individuals are serving natural life sentences for these convictions.

* Meanwhile, here’s Capitol News Illinois…

Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, said she and her husband were victims of a carjacking around Christmas. Lightford said they were dropping a friend off and as they were getting back into their car, three masked individuals came up to them and told her husband to get down on the ground.

Lightford said the moment felt like a movie as she pleaded with the carjackers not to shoot her husband. She said they took her purse and started to look in the car’s glove compartment and armrest. But she said the car was a loaner and it was empty, which caused the carjackers to become upset.

To distract the other two men, Lightford said her husband threw the keys across the ground to get them on the driver’s side of the car so she could leave the passenger’s side and run.

“My husband told me to run. I was terrified and I believed that I stopped breathing,” Lightford said.

Lightford said the carjackers still have yet to be caught but that law enforcement responded quickly that night and did a good job in handling the situation as best as they could.

* WTTW…

As Gov. J.B. Pritkzer has proposed, the efforts commits to funding and progressing Illinois’ mostly-dormant state witness protection program.

In 2014, Peoria Democratic Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth’s son was killed; without a witness who testified about the shooting “our family probably never would have gotten justice.”

That witness, she said, had to move because of threats to the witness’ family safety.

Witnesses need not just cooperate; “they also have to go and take the stand in court and stand before that individual who they saw take someone else’s life” Gordon-Booth said.