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A test of bills
Chicago FOP continues its efforts to advocate for and against legislation that affects the way members do their jobs
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Debris from the rush of bills presented recently – much of which could profoundly impact law enforcement – has piled up around the Illinois General Assembly. Word behind the scenes suggests that the proposed legislation is an expres- sion of the way some state representatives view the police and their constituent-pleasing agendas beholden to criminal justice reform.
Law enforcement leaders from across the state, including Chicago Lodge 7 lobbyist Mark Donahue, constantly and persistently track this paper trail as a means to identify the good and the bad and develop strategies to advocate for or against. But the 2020 legislative session has piled on the po- lice with renewed aspiration to impose limits on basic, inte- gral law enforcing such as stopping pedestrians involved in or suspected of criminal activity.
That is part of House Bill 48 (HB48), one of 9,000 bills in play this session. Of those, some 70 came to the House Judiciary Committee during the first week of March directly tagged at law enforcement. Nearly half are like HB48, spawned from legislators advancing the pursuits of organizations pushing criminal justice reform.
“I think criminal justice reform that is sweeping through the country comes from a consensus that certain groups of people are being treated unfairly,” reasons Donahue, a Lodge 7 trustee who also served as FOP president for 10 years. “I am very confident that most of the drive behind all of these actions is by special interest groups.”
What’s going on in Springfield with the General Assembly targeting the police has been described by some “as nuts.” In response, law enforcement organizations including the Chicago FOP, the Illinois State FOP, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and Illinois Sheriffs’ Association have formed a law enforcement coalition to get their voice heard.
Representatives engaged in campaigning leading up to the March 17 Illinois primary have been a bit distracted from lis-
tening to the coalition’s position. But once they secure their re-election, there is a great deal of confidence that they will respond to what the coalition is advocating.
“We still have a great deal of support for law enforcement in Springfield that we see from how they vote for or against the issues as we identify them to legislators,” Donahue ex- plains. “In talking with some of them off to the side, they un- derstand and agree with many of our positions.”
The initial objective in Lodge 7’s legislative effort is to make sure representatives are getting accurate information. Donahue indicates that data some of the special interests groups have been collecting since 2003 has never been prop- erly analyzed.
Some of the proposed bills that come under criminal jus- tice reform are directed at what special interest groups argue as civil rights violations. For instance, the data shows that 80 percent of people of color are being denied cash bail. But 80 percent of people being arrested are people of color. In Cook County, that number reportedly is between 70 and 90 per- cent.
“There is a need to look at the data in totality, and that is not being done,” Donahue adds. “People are seeing data that is misleading, to say the least.”
The law enforcement coalition supposes that the Ameri- can Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been the special inter- est group serving as the primary data driver. Data that might not be so widely reported is that contributions to the ACLU have apparently increased nearly four-fold since President Trump was elected. In turn, the ACLU is throwing more re- sources at its agenda, one that is being picked up by many legislators.
Consequently, legislation like HB3849, titled Expungement Eligibility, has been proposed. This bill would allow petition- ing the circuit court to expunge all records that have been sealed three years. Imagine how this could lead to repeat of- fenders like the one who shot and killed Commander Paul Bauer in 2018 getting back on the street even more easily.
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