(The Center Square) – Illinois lawmakers are sounding off on the Justice in Policing Act proposed by Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate, which includes a number of reforms to confront several policing issues as more violence is captured on cellphones and shared across the planet in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis.
The proposal, among other things, would prohibit police from using chokeholds, create a national registry to track police misconduct, and ban certain no-knock warrants, which are legal in Illinois. Another proposal would change the federal civil rights law and would allow an officer to be charged with acting with reckless disregard for someone’s life or causing a person’s death.
Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus Representative Karen Bass of California called it a “transformative vision of policing in America.”
In a message posted on Twitter, U.S. Rep Adam Kinzinger, who represents Illinois’ 11th congressional district, said there is a better way.
“Let’s figure out how to get the screening tools and proper training to our police officers, and let’s also recognize that they have a really tough job,” Kinzinger said. “Let’s call out bad ideas for what they are and let’s work together for real and achievable solutions.”
U.S. Congressman Rodney Davis of Taylorville, who represents Illinois’ 13th congressional district, said he was perplexed as to why Republicans were not involved in the discussion.
“It’s disappointing because this is something we should do on a bipartisan basis and if they are doing it alone, I think it just because they want to use it as a partisan issue,” said Davis.
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to spend much of this month working on the measure, but it is unclear how the GOP-controlled Senate will respond to it.