Rock Island Today

State Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) warns law enforcement recruitment is at a crisis point and she places much of the blame at the feet of Democratic lawmakers in Springfield. 

“We are here to recognize the one-year impact of the majority passing this policy to punish police and actually reward criminals,” McCombie said at a Jan. 5 news conference regarding the Safe-T Act that passed last session despite opposition from Republicans. “Rep. Windhorst (R-Harrisburg) gave you a great background on the legislative action from one year ago this week that actually set a crime wave into motion.”

In the same year that House Bill 3653 passed, ending the state’s cash bail system, McCombie points out that 17% of Illinois sheriffs made the decision to retire early.

McCombie traces much of what she sees having gone wrong to what she deems as radical politicians.

“Law enforcement recruitment is in a crisis, not just on our sheriff's, it's also is in our cities and our small villages and communities,” she said. “They cannot fill these positions due to the intentional partisan attacks on their profession.

McCombie argues as a result everyone is left to feel the pain, with the numbers painting a clear picture of the suffering.

“Chicago's murder rate is the deadliest we have seen in 25 years, 836 homicides in the city of Chicago in 2021,” she said. “Ninety-eight of those victims were under the age of 18, 12 of those were under 10. Four thousand, three-hundred gunshot victims in Chicago, bringing Chicago to the highest number of any city in our nation.”

McCombie argues one thing has become clear.  

“We need our law enforcement partners more now than ever,” she said. “Democrats in Illinois have blatantly blocked penalty enhancements for criminals for years. Today, we're seeing them actually out to sell a message that they will never legislate. Illinois Democrats will not allow penalty enhancements or punish criminals. Illinois democrats only punish police and threaten our public safety.”

HB 3653 also amends the Unified Code of Corrections to stipulate that “45 days prior to the scheduled discharge of a person committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections, the Department shall give the person information about voter registration and information about registering to vote upon discharge from the correctional institution or facility if the person upon discharge would be homeless.”