Updated 1/15/2021 9:08 AM
No cash bail. No promise of state funding to help pay for and operate mandatory body cameras. No accusers' names on misconduct complaints against police officers, and no sworn affidavits supporting them.
No good.
That's some suburban law enforcement leaders' assessment of a sweeping criminal justice bill passed Wednesday by the Illinois General Assembly and now awaiting the signature of Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Police leaders we spoke to this week say they welcome much-needed reforms but that the legislation passed this week makes officers' jobs more difficult, and it'll be communities that suffer as a result.
"We're disheartened by what occurred," said Crystal Lake Chief James Black, who's also president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. "We will continue to move forward and we will obviously work to make sure that we are in compliance with the provisions of the state statute, but I just think that, unfortunately, it's going to be our communities and crime victims that are going to be the ones that bear the burden."