Raoul announces very first investigation under new Illinois law enforcement reform legislation

Illinois Legal professional General Kwame Raoul introduced Wednesday his office’s to start with investigation of policing methods in the condition under the authority of a condition law that went into effect in July.

The investigation is the to start with undertaken by the business underneath investigative powers presented below a package deal of law enforcement reform legal guidelines passed earlier this calendar year as the Safe and sound-T Act, Raoul reported

A sweeping criminal justice reform bill, opposed by numerous police corporations, was signed into law this yr. It demands, among other matters, police entire body cameras by 2025 and expands situations in which officers can be stripped of certification.

The measures restricts police on how they use pressure, together with the use of rubber bullets and stun guns.

Raoul declared Wednesday that his business had began a civil rights investigation into the methods of the Joliet Law enforcement Department. He claimed each individual law enforcement office ought to be examining its techniques.

“I really do not feel it is unique to 1 jurisdiction,” Raoul mentioned. “I think it is a ongoing work out that all law enforcement departments as well as all other regulation enforcement agencies need to be partaking in.”

The Attorney General’s place of work stated it will take a look at the Joliet Law enforcement Department’s guidelines, procedures and supervision connected to website traffic and pedestrian stops, searches, arrests and the use of power.

The investigation follows a ask for by Joliet Mayor Bob O’DeKirk and customers of the Joliet City Council to seem into the demise of Eric Lurry, a 37-year-outdated Black Joliet resident who died just after staying set in the backseat of a Joliet police auto in January 2020.

In accordance to the Marshall Undertaking, the thrust to employ far more law enforcement officers is getting ground. President Joe Biden’s administration lately announced that metropolitan areas can use component of the $350 billion American Rescue System relief cash to retain the services of far more offices to fight gun violence. Metropolitan areas, big and modest, are jumping on the present, with claims that their law enforcement departments are functioning out of officers.

Illinois is seeing a turnover in law enforcement chiefs. The top rated cops in five big Illinois cities introduced ideas to go away inside of the previous year, no matter if it be to retire or acquire a further situation, like in Springfield, Champaign, Peoria, Bloomington and Decatur.

“I feel all police departments have been in a process of hunting in the mirror and wanting at how they can improve their system of doing work in the direction of constitutional policing,” Raoul stated.

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