Prairie State Wire

There will be many massive changes to the way policing is done in the state of Illinois and many counties are worried about how these changes will impact not just their police officers but almost every aspect of their local government.

The criminal justice reform in Illinois has James Zay, a DuPage County board member, worried. The upcoming changes in the justice department of Illinois include additional police training, three free phone calls for arrested individuals and an overall reformation to the police department where bad cops would get booted off the force more quickly and easily.

“I mean, this is going to have a major effect on county government," Zay said, according to WBEZ Chicago. "And guess what, other aspects of county government are going to suffer because of this, because we don’t have the money.”

In addition to those changes, police officers will be required to wear body cameras at all times and cash bail is no longer going to be implemented, instead, a judge will determine if a suspect should be held.

Most counties are worried that these reforms will bleed them out financially at a time when everyone needs to tighten their budget. Additional training for police officers will definitely be expensive. And since there will be a surge in pre-trial detention hearings based on the reforms, counties will need more courtrooms to accommodate the influx of cases, which will also be expensive.