Prairie State Wire

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (ILFOP) and ILFOP Labor Council called on its members to fight against a newly introduced House amendment that would reform police operations. 

"This is not police reform," the ILFOP and ILFOP Labor Council said in a joint statement on the Chicagofop.org website. "This is an attack on the law enforcement profession, which will negatively impact the safety of the citizens throughout Illinois. It is no exaggeration to say that our profession will live or die based on how quickly and vehemently we act to destroy this dangerous piece of legislation."

The amendment proposes changes to law enforcement such as criminal proceedings, victim services, and officers' protections, the statement said. 

"Everyone one of us must enlist the help of our family, our friends, our colleagues, every citizen who supports law enforcement and literally everyone else we can think of and relentlessly contact the members of the General Assembly," the ILFOP and ILFOP Labor Council said in the release. "We must let them know, over and over and over again, that this abomination of a bill will not only destroy the profession as we know it but will absolutely and almost immediately have serious, potentially deadly, consequences for the citizens of Illinois."

The organizations say that the proposal would prohibit departments from creating cost-saving programs, eliminatee an officer's rights to collectively bargain and ability to pursue their job without civil liability, allow unsubstantiated and unverified complaints to be used against officers, make officers criminally liable for virtually any use of force, and remove prohibitions against police officer obstructions.

The measure was adopted by both houses of the Illinois Legislature and is currently awaiting Gov. J.B. Pritzker's signature to sign it into law.