Friday, Feb 5, 2021
By the time Christopher Miller showed up at his estranged wife’s backdoor in September 2019 with a pistol in his waistband, state authorities already had declared him too dangerous to own firearms.
He had lost his gun license 20 months earlier after being charged with aggravated battery for brutally beating a man in a Naperville parking lot. He disregarded orders to relinquish any weapons, and no one made sure he complied.
Miller startled his wife that autumn afternoon as she moved around the kitchen making a snack for her daughter. With cocaine and alcohol in his system, he stared at Cassandra Tanner Miller with hazel eyes so dilated they appeared black.
Uncertainty is hanging over much of the state’s criminal justice system as prosecutors, police and defense attorneys ponder the consequences of one of the most sweeping pieces of legislation to pass the Illinois General Assembly in years.
You would think DuPage County Public Defender Jeff York would be happy to see the end of cash bail in Illinois, as promised by criminal justice legislation that passed Wednesday,
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 com
UpdatedThu, Jan 14, 2021 at 8:48 pm CT
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House Bill 3653 abolishes cash bail, creates a statewide certification system for police, requires body-worn cameras, and amends crowd control responses, sentencing laws and law enforcement training requirements. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
SPRINGFIELD, IL State lawmakers passed a broad package of police reforms Wednesday in the final hours of the lame-duck session of the 101st Illinois General Assembly.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker indicated he will sign the bill, over the objections of law enforcement groups. Backers of the measure say it will increase police accountability and reduce inequities in the criminal law system.
Authored by the Legislative Black Caucus following last summer s protests against police brutality, House Bill 3653 would make Illinois the first state in the nation to end cash bail, starting in 2023. It would also require all officers to wear body cameras by 2025, expand the process for revoking the certificatio