- Published: 25 January 2016
CHICAGO - Last Wednesday, State Senator Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago), who represents some of Chicago's most violence-stricken neighborhoods, standing with colleagues and members of the community called for accountability within the Chicago Police Department. Van Pelt is sponsoring legislation a series a legislative initiatives directly targeting that lack of accountability: SB 2210, SB 2231 and SB 2233.
The package of bills pertains to creating an independent police review board, retention of police misconduct records and FOIA requests detailing police misconduct.
"Accountability has been a major issue throughout the City of Chicago, specifically as it relates to policing. Introducing and passing these measures are a strong step in the right direct," Sen. Van Pelt said.
In the past year, Illinois has seen numerous efforts from the General Assembly to pass measures for policing reform. Most notably, Senate Bill 1304, a measure signed into law by the governor after passing both chambers, establishes wide-ranging rules for body cameras, largely prohibits chokeholds, introduces bias-free policing and demands more data collection on arrests.