Law enforcement in Illinois is preparing new ways to best serve and protect law-abiding citizens as the state’s sweeping new criminal justice reform bill takes effect Sunday. said the local sheriff.
Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Bacon told Fox News, “We’ve spent a lot of time preparing for what’s to come. It is of the utmost importance to us that we try to sift through a thousand pages to determine how we can best serve the citizens we protect.”
The Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness, Fairness-Today (SAFE-T) Act, which took effect Jan. 1, overhauls the Illinois judicial system so that defendants are deemed a fugitive risk It has introduced provisions such as limiting cases and allowing defendants under electronic surveillance to leave. Get home 48 hours before they are charged with escape. It was also supposed to abolish cash bail, but the state’s Supreme Court withheld that portion hours before the law went into effect.
See Illinois’ position on the SAFE-T Act below.
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In a previous interview, Orlando Park Mayor Keith Pekau told Fox News:
Bacon, who was elected sheriff in November, said the new reform “feels like hundreds of hours of training and debate”. “And there are so many questions that still exist.”
“My focus has been to ensure that people who have committed certain crimes can stay in prison,” he told Fox News. I work very hard, and sometimes I feel like I’m rowing upstream.”
Concerned Illinoisians like Bacon emerged victorious Thursday when Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cunnington ruled in favor of plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by several prosecutors and sheriffs across the state. A class action lawsuit signed by dozens of counties across the state argued that the SAFE-T Act’s pretrial release and bail reforms were unconstitutional.
Illinois Sheriff Responds to SAFE-T ACT: Watch Here
Judge Rule Repeal of Cash Bail Under Illinois Law Unconstitutional
Kankakee County State Attorney Jim Rowe said, “Today’s ruling confirms that we are still the people’s government, that the constitutional protections afforded to the citizens of Illinois and, most importantly, that our vote It affirms that we have the right to exercise our voices.” said in a statement among the main plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
As a result, the Illinois Superior Court blocked the repeal of cash bail as a decision on state appeal, but the rest of the bill remains in effect.
The SAFE-T Act also dropped trespassing from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class B offence. As a result, police are unable to arrest non-violent trespassers and can only issue subpoenas instead.
“If someone trespasses on your property, we will remove them from your property,” Bacon said. I may not be able to do it, but I’m not going to leave it there.”
SAFE-T ACT: Illinois Sheriff Warns Prosecutors Not To Be “Frenzy” To Stop Criminals By Targeting Victims
The sheriff said officers will continue to work within the requirements of the law, but that they also have “common sense and discretion, which we intend to use.”
“Law enforcement officers — their loyalty remains with the crime victim,” he added.
Franklin County, located in southern Illinois with a population of about 37,000, has seen a high number of drug-related robberies, sheriffs said.
“Non-stop,” Bacon told Fox News. “every day.”
The sheriff said from what he could say about the SAFE-T Act, “There is no drug crime other than detainable firearms or high-level drug crime.”
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As a result, not only will these crimes continue to occur in large numbers, but low-level drug-abusing offenders may not get a chance to commit crimes if they are released shortly after being arrested. he is concerned.
“If the drug problem leads to these deaths and robberies we experience, it’s a snowball effect,” Bacon said. “They’re local departments struggling to keep up.”
“I don’t think there’s much benefit in just booking someone and sending them off before they’re sober,” he told Fox News. “