McHenry Times

McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally called the new police reform bill that passed the House and the Senate out of step with victims and other Illinois residents.

“Without hyperbole, [HB 3653] seems to all but mandate the immediate pretrial release of drug-dealers, arsonists, and drunk drivers irrespective of their likelihood of re-offending, the danger they pose generally to the public, or their willingness to comply with conditions of their release,” Kenneally said in a statement, Illinois Review reported. “That is absurd and out of step with the expectations that victims and Illinoisans have for their justice system.”

Kenneally isn’t the only Republican against the bill. Not a single Republican voted for the bill. Republican State Sens. Jason Plummer, of Maryville, and Dave Syverson, of Rockford, have also come out against the bill, condemning its passage.

The bill is currently waiting for Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature.

Plummer said the bill was "a dangerous criminal justice proposal that would endanger our law enforcement personnel, families and communities while also essentially defunding the police,” Illinois Review reported.

Syverson said the bill should not have been passed.

"January 13th at 3:30 a.m., after all the press had left the Capitol, the sponsors of this legislation dropped their 700-page bill and it was voted on one hour later at 4:30 a.m.,” Syverson said in a letter to his constituents, Illinois Review reported. “In addition, they changed the bill number before the vote to confuse the public, then they only allowed two Senators to ask questions. No matter how you look at it, it was wrong. No legislation should ever be passed without an open public process.”

Black Lives Matter-Chicago cheered the passage of the bill, calling it a historic win for the people in the state.