Will County Gazette

Former state Sen. Jim Oberweis is warning lawmakers in Springfield intent on passing the Criminal Justice Reform during the lame duck session about being careful over what they wish for.

“Because we are not properly vetting this legislation we are on the verge of putting a bill on the governor’s desk that will make our communities less safe,” Oberweis told the Will County Gazette. “This bill is more than 600 pages and represents major policy changes in the state of Illinois. There is no need to rush legislation of this magnitude.”

Oberweis joins a growing number of other republican lawmakers in expressing the same concerns the bill, which, among other things, seeks to enact such changes as prohibiting pre-trial detention, impeding law enforcement investigations and removing all due process protections for officers.

Supported by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, the bill would also outlaw cash bails and expand police reform on use of force, crisis training and prohibiting chokeholds. The proposed reforms have been a work in progress ever since the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police last summer. Finally, it also includes mandating the use of body cameras across the state by 2025 and the use of special prosecutors in police-involved killings.

“I am open to having a discussion on meaningful police reforms, but let’s have hearings and a real debate,” Oberweis added. “Let’s get input from the public and from law enforcement. Let’s do this right instead of ramming it through during the lame duck legislative session.”

Oberweis is joined in blasting the proposed legislation by an assortment of the state’s top law enforcement officials, many of whom have signed off on a joint statement insisting that the bill “would destroy law enforcement’s ability to keep communities safe.”

In what they see as being in the best interest of all, they are urging lawmakers to “avoid making a sudden, rash decision and instead work carefully with all stakeholders to truly examine what needs to be done regarding law enforcement in Illinois.”