Sen. Dave Syverson | Facebook
Sen. Dave Syverson | Facebook
State Sen. Dave Syverson is leaving no doubt about where he stands on the criminal justice reform legislation passed last year.
“Families deserve safe neighborhoods,” Syverson recently posted on Facebook. “End no cash bail. Back the blue.”
In addition to branding HB 3653 “a dangerous criminal justice reform proposal,” Syverson has taken exception with the way the bill has been advanced.
“At three in the morning, Democrat lawmakers throw a 700-page bill on our desks and ask that we vote on a complex criminal reform proposal only an hour later,” he told WIFR. “That’s not feasible and, more importantly, that is not how effective reform is passed.”
Arguing that the stakes are as high, Syverson said the time to speak out is now.
”The safety and wellbeing of our communities and citizens are at stake here,” he said. “We cannot afford not to get criminal justice reform right. This was shortsighted and devastating anti-police legislation that should not have passed.”
Also known as the SAFE-T Act, the bill that establishes a new process to decertify abusive officers, requires body cameras for all Illinois cops and limits when police can use deadly force has been blasted by critics as posing a danger to public safety and amounting to an attack on police.
They note that in the same year the bill was passed, murders in Chicago hit a 20-year high and police resignations have increased.
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