Chambana Sun

State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) is pressing lawmakers in Springfield to make good on the crime-busting vows they made going back to last year.

“We are here today to discuss the reintroduction of our crime package and I want to take a moment to step backwards,” Rose said at a Feb. 1 news conference.

“In October we stood out at the police officers memorial and introduced a package of bills designed to protect the citizens, the state, designed to equip, protect, train and help bring more police out on our streets to provide mental health services within our county jails with the end goal of reducing this criminal plague, this scourge of violence that has hit the state of Illinois,” Rose said.

Rose is one of several House Republicans pushing for the repeal of the criminal justice and police reform bill known as the SAFE-T Act that passed in 2021. The measure included several changes, among them ending the cash bail system and the way police misconduct is addressed

Since the bill passed, state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Westmont) points out that crime has skyrocketed around the state.

“We warned you that this would make crime even worse,” she said. “Welcome to reality. You can’t pass a bill designed to defund, demoralize, and decertify police officers and expect that much good is going to come of that.”

Rose said the time for action is now.

“It is past time,” he said. “How many more people need to be shot? How many more cars need to be hijacked? How many more people need to be murdered before the Democrats in this building do something?”