Retired chief: Illinois’ SAFE-T Act ’emboldens’ anti-police attackers

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A retired police chief says Illinois’ SAFE-T Act has emboldened individuals who could attack law enforcement officers.

Officers in Chicago and Granite City have been shot in recent days, and a Cook County Fugitive Task Force member was struck by a suspect’s vehicle last week.

Retired Riverside, Illinois police chief Thomas Weitzel said the SAFE-T Act reduced authorities’ ability to keep people in custody.

“Those types of individuals that would attack a police officer are just emboldened by that,” Weitzel told The Center Square.

A suspect was arrested early Saturday morning after a shooting left a Granite City officer hospitalized in stable condition. The incident happened Friday afternoon when police were responding to a call.

The Chicago Police Department said an officer’s protective vest saved his life when he was shot in the chest early Sunday morning on the city’s Far South Side. Police said another individual was also shot and injured during an altercation and the suspect and the other individual were injured when police returned fire.

A Ford Heights man is charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery of a police officer and leaving the scene of accident after he allegedly used his vehicle to strike a Cook County Fugitive Task Force member on Chicago’s South Side last Tuesday afternoon. Police said the Cook County task force member was seriously injured. Antwan Ford, 27, was arrested in Vernon Hills Wednesday morning by Chicago Police and members of the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Weitzel said violence against police officers has been influenced by the way politicians speak about officers and try to take tools away from law enforcement.

According to the Fraternal Order of Police, 83 officers have been shot in ambush attacks across the United States this year.

“An ambush attack is an attack against a police officer for no apparent reason,” Weitzel explained.

In addition, Weitzel said situations sometimes escalate when officers respond to calls.

“If you’re armed, if you’re a homeowner or you’re an individual that either has a firearm illegally or, in many cases, individuals have firearms that are legally possessed, when it’s readily available and law enforcement walks into the situation, many times it’s used against the officers,” Weitzel said.

Last month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker suggested he would be open to amending the state’s SAFE-T Act after a man with a long criminal history was charged with setting a Chicago train passenger on fire.

The incident drew the attention of President Donald Trump, who said crime in Chicago is out of control.

Another incident involving a suspect with a long history of prior arrests happened at a Chicago hospital campus last month. Sean Popps, 39, is accused of repeatedly punching and striking a cardiologist the afternoon of Nov. 2, in a parking garage elevator at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Streeterville campus. CWB Chicago reported that Chicago police arrested Popps twelve times this year, mostly for allegedly trespassing or damaging property on or near hospital grounds. Popps was also arrested seven times in 2024 and six times from 2020 through 2023.

Weitzel said Illinois has a pattern of suspects not staying in custody.

“That’s a pattern, right? They’re getting out. They’re not staying in custody. These individuals are being released from first appearance court or sometimes directly from the police station because, under the SAFE-T Act, we’re not allowed to hold them as law enforcement,” Weitzel said. “You have to give them a notice to appear, and then they walk out the front door of the police station.”

Weitzel said unprovoked attacks are a familiar problem in the Chicago area.

“There was this serial puncher that was walking around the Loop. He was targeting females and just punching them out and sometimes knocking them out completely on the public streets. Over and over again, he was let out of custody after being arrested to repeat the same crime against female victims,” Weitzel said.