Acting Flossmoor Police Chief Keith Taylor on Monday, Dec. 19, provided the village board with an update on Illinois’ Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act as a third trailer bill to the legislation was signed into law on Dec. 6.
Among the changes to the SAFE-T Act legislation is a clarification regarding detainable offenses and an expansion of which offenses are detainable, Taylor said.
“It adds various offenses to the detention net with the intention of detaining people who pose a danger to the public and release of those who do not,” Taylor said.
Taylor also addressed changes related to trespass and misdemeanor citations, as well as traffic offenses, specifically.
The trailer bill requires an officer to issue citations in lieu of custodial arrest for those accused of any offense that is not a felony or Class A misdemeanor, unless law enforcement “reasonably believes the accused poses a threat to the community or any person,” if the criminal activity continues after a citation has been issued, or if an “obvious” medical or mental health issue poses a risk to one’s own safety, Taylor explained.
“This was one of the major concerns for law enforcement, because the original language of the bill did not seem to account for people who would continue to commit offenses — for instance, a criminal trespass where a citation is issued, they refuse to leave or they keep coming back,” he said. “What would law enforcement be able to do? Would we be able to take them into custody? The trailer bill clarifies that language.”
Taylor noted the “dangerousness standard” in relation to pretrial detention has been made consistent throughout the bill, with a “threat to the community” included based on specific case facts.
“The original bill did not contain the elements of the general public being considered as to whether or not a person would get pretrial release,” Taylor explained. “There remains concern as to whether there will be consistency among the judges in determining which alleged offenders will be detained.”
Taylor said the changes, to his understanding, will not impact people who are already in custody.
“I think that’s one of the topics of misinformation that was out there,” he said. “People feared [this would be] a mass release of criminals into the populace. That is not accurate “
The trailer bill also addresses changes to hearing timelines, definitions of willful flight and warrants. It corrects a previous drafting error prohibiting the use of bench warrants, Taylor said, in addition to clarifying that a judge can issue arrest warrants or summons when someone misses a court date. The language of the bill suggests use of summons more than warrants in those cases, he added.
Trustee Rosalind Mustafa asked if courts are prepared to honor the timelines set forth in the legislation. Taylor said he could not speak to their readiness of the courts, only what Flossmoor has seen thus far.
“I do know some of the forms we will use for citing and things of that nature are not fully ready to be disseminated,” he said. “They are making arrangements for that to go into effect after the new year and providing us with some preliminary forms that we can utilize in the interim.”
Taylor told the board that Cook County training was scheduled to start mid-week. He later confirmed that the county on Tuesday, Dec. 20, released video training related to the Pretrial Fairness Act.
“All of our officers will be required to complete this training,” Taylor said. “Some of our officers, myself included, have already begun viewing the training videos.”
Taylor said the Flossmoor Police Department is ready to adapt to the changes, and he expects more of them in the future. Many amount to new forms and procedures, which the department will learn and become compliant as needed. Flossmoor’s allowances for citations for certain offenses, such as Class B and C misdemeanors, have given officers a head start of roughly a year, according to Taylor.
“The officers have a lot of experience in dealing with that,” he said.
Taylor also cited “several” positives he expects to come from these state changes.
“The bail amendments should reduce the amount of people we take into custody for certain offenses,” Taylor said. “It should also reduce overtime and other costs associated with prisoner care.”
He said not having to take people into custody for minor infractions will give police more time to be on the street. That allows more time for other responsibilities, such as business checks and community engagement that is not focused on enforcement of the law.
“We should see some benefits to this,” Taylor said. “Some of it will depend on how the judges rule in these cases — whether they detain people who have had a violent history or threaten violence against members of the general public or people in particular. That remains to be seen. If they abide by the principles of this act, I believe we should see some benefit from it.”