Government leaders statewide call for cashless bail reform after CPD officer killed

By Sean Reed | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Critics on both sides of the aisle in Illinois government are calling for changes to the SAFE-T Act after a man was charged with killing a Chicago Police Officer and critically wounding his partner Saturday.

High-ranking state officials, Statehouse Republicans and multiple Chicago Aldermen have all called for immediate changes to the SAFE-T Act.

A portion of the law gives judges the discretion over granting people charged with crimes supervised release through electronic monitoring. Critics of the law have said it grants release to people with histories of violent actions and felony crime convictions.

Critics said the SAFE-T Act is what allowed 26-year-old Chicago resident Alphanso Talley – a seven-time convicted felon – to escape electronic monitoring and shoot two Chicago police officers inside Swedish Hospital, killing officer John Bartholomew and critically injuring his partner.

Talley now faces 20 felony charges in connection to the shooting, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery, according to CPD.

House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, and Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R-Lemont, met midday Wednesday to call on their colleagues to act.

“The question is no longer if reform is needed. It’s how many more tragedies need to happen before action is taken place. With just four weeks left in session, the time for conversation is over. The time for action is now,” McCombie said.

Curran said recent incidents have happened because of the SAFE-T Act, though the nature of the act was meant to allow for offenders to be released under supervision instead of being left in jail because they can’t afford to pay bail.

“Any society where killing law enforcement is not taken seriously is not a functioning, safe, democratic society,” Cornyn said.

Curran introduced Senate Bill 4195 Wednesday on the floor. If passed into law, the bill would revoke the pre-trial release of a person if they are found to have committed a felony while on release.

Illinois Comptroller and Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Suzana Mendoza told The Center Square the provision allowing people charged with violent crimes to be released before trial should have never been included in the SAFE-T Act.

“There’s no shame in admitting that you made a mistake. There is in not correcting the mistake. And in this case, these mistakes have proven to be very deadly,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza also said she thinks lawmakers can and should pass a fix to the law soon, if not by the end of the spring legislative session, then in the fall veto session.

Gov. JB Pritzker, however, shifted blame away from the act as a whole, saying many cases have been because judges have made improper determinations.

“In most of the cases where Republicans have complained about the SAFE-T Act, it’s actually been a bad decision by an elected judge in Illinois or no hearing at all because the prosecutor didn’t bring it to the judge,” Pritzker said. “A judge can make this decision, a judge should have made the decision to keep that person in jail.”