Will County Gazette

Republican Congressional candidate Rick Laib is warning police protesters to be careful of what they wish for.

“The idea that defunding the police will provide the satisfaction that the defunders are seeking is ludicrous,” Laib, now challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Foster (D-Aurora) in the 11th District, told the Will County Gazette. “If a police municipality is defunded, the County Sheriff's office or the federal government will step in and provide the enforcement that area requires. In essence, defunding the police will move away from one type of enforcement and over to another.”

The anti-police movement has picked up steam following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day, sparking protests and violence across the country. Minneapolis City Council members were among the first to broach the possibility of permanently doing away with their city's police department, and the idea quickly gained the support of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and the leaders of the Chicago Public Schools.

More recently, Gov. J.B. Pritzker weighed in, insisting what he thinks frustrated residents really want is real change.

“They want fundamental change in the way that police operate,” he told the Chicago Tribune. “You have to think about, what are the methods by which people can be disciplined if they’re not going to get disciplined by their own police departments, if the investigations are taking place by a police department that may not want to hold some of their officers accountable for the kind of behavior that I think we would all find reprehensible.”

Meanwhile, Laib said the issue seems to grow more confusing by the day.

“States that have discussed defunding the police have proposed replacing them with a new model – presumably one that enforces the laws of that state,” he said. “We need not have the police, but we must decide how order will be preserved and how laws will be enforced. Presently, we call that discipline ‘police.’"