{"id":2219213,"date":"2024-04-12T08:58:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T12:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-want-changes-to-safe-t-act-to-avoid-criminals-slipping-through-the-cracks\/"},"modified":"2024-04-12T09:02:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T13:02:32","slug":"lawmakers-want-changes-to-safe-t-act-to-avoid-criminals-slipping-through-the-cracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-want-changes-to-safe-t-act-to-avoid-criminals-slipping-through-the-cracks\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislators push for SAFE-T Act revisions to prevent criminals from evading detection"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flawmakers-want-changes-to-safe-t-act-to-avoid-criminals-slipping-through-the-cracks%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2219213&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The SAFE-T Act in Illinois draws attention as \u200da <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutors-offer-plea-deal-to-nyc-lawyers-who-firebombed-police-vehicle\/\" title=\"Prosecutors Offer Plea Deal to NYC Lawyers Who Firebombed Police Vehicle\">pretrial release<\/a> leads to \u2064a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/motor-racing-its-broken-again-another-red-bull-trophy-hits-the-floor\/\" title=\"Red Bull trophy crashes once more: Motor racing mishap.\">fatal \u200baccident<\/a>. State Rep.\u2063 Dennis Tipsword highlights concerns over the release\u2063 of Nathan Sweeney, despite being on drugs and causing a tragic incident. Efforts to enhance the law\u200c by expanding detainable offenses\u2062 are met with resistance,\u200c emphasizing the\u200b need to improve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washington-d-c-mayor-extends-emergency-declaration-for-15-days\/\" title=\"Washington, D.C. mayor extends emergency declaration for 15 days\">public safety<\/a> measures. The SAFE-T Act in Illinois gains focus due to a pretrial release resulting in a fatal accident.\u2063 State Rep. Dennis Tipsword raises alarms about Nathan Sweeney&#8217;s release, despite involvement in a tragic incident while under the influence. Attempts to broaden detainable offenses face opposition, underscoring the urgency to bolster public safety protocols.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013\u00a0The SAFE-T Act is again making headlines in Illinois with the pretrial release of an individual accused of being under the influence and crashing his vehicle into a sheriff\u2019s deputy\u2019s vehicle, killing her.<\/p>\n<p>State Rep. Dennis Tipsword, R-Metamora, who also serves as the Woodford county chief deputy sheriff, said what Nathan Sweeney, 44, who was apprehended following the death of Dekalb County deputy Christina Musil, did was on the list of detainable offenses. Sweeney, however, was released with the judge citing the SAFE-T Act.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReckless homicide is a detainable offense. However, it is very clear in the SAFE-T act that every person is expected to be released unless there are clear and convincing reasons they should be held. Two of those are a danger to society or a flight risk,\u201d Tipsword told The Center Square. \u201cA person who is on that combination of narcotics is inherently a danger to society. If he\u2019s already flagrantly violating the laws to where he\u2019s on that kind of a cocktail of drugs, how can we believe he\u2019s not going to go out the day after and do the same thing. This was just a head shaker. This person should have been detained.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sweeney was allegedly on cocaine, fentanyl and morphine when crashing into the deputy\u2019s car and ultimately ending her life, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>Tipsword said the release was likely due to the prosecution not being able to prove that Sweeney was either a danger to society or a flight risk.<\/p>\n<p>State Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, said he\u2019s glad Republicans have created the working group called Truth in Public Safety, or TIPS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe SAFE-T act is not perfect but it can be perfected,\u201d Buckner told The Center Square. \u201cWe have put together a few trailer bills that have changed some of the language [within the SAFE-T act] based on what we\u2019re seeing in the criminal justice space. If there are ways to strengthen this law and keep folks safer and make sure people aren\u2019t slipping through the cracks and we are maintaining the spirit of what we tried to do with this bill, now four years ago, then we should absolutely do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Republican members of the TIPS working group have unveiled a flurry of bills like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/legislation\/billstatus.asp?DocNum=5120&#038;GAID=17&#038;GA=103&#038;DocTypeID=HB&#038;LegID=153164&#038;SessionID=112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">House Bill 5120<\/a><\/strong>, which would expand detainable offenses pending trial based on the severity of the offense and determination of whether the defendant poses a real threat to individuals or the community. Tipsword said all of the bills have fallen on deaf ears.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re not interested. Our No. 1 argument is that there needs to be more crimes on the detention list and that would get those prosecutors and those judges to really hear if someone is a danger to society,\u201d said Tipsword. \u201cLikewise, I think those two things should be held independently. If someone is a danger to society it doesn\u2019t matter what crime they committed. They should be held because if you put them back on the street, they\u2019re going to create more victims.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tipsword said the goal is to move these bills in the next couple of weeks, but so far there\u2019s been no movement. Democrats justify the SAFE-T Act and say it allows judges to have more judicial discretion, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the SAFE-T Act was going through, it was passed a couple weeks before I was seated here, but as a lifelong police officer I was very interested in what was going to happen and I kept hearing the Democrats saying \u2018this law would give more judicial discretion to our judges so they could hear and decide who are the most dangerous criminals.\u2019 That\u2019s the furthest thing from the truth because unless a person commits one of those detainable offenses, they could have their plane tickets bought, but if they don\u2019t commit a detainable offense the prosecution can\u2019t even show they are a flight risk. So the judge never hears it,\u201d said Tipsword.<\/p>\n<p>Buckner said the SAFE-T Act does give a lot of discretion to judges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt gives judges the ability to make recommendations and look at the totality of the circumstances to see whether or not someone should be held in detention pretrial. We did that on purpose. We did that to empower the bench and the judiciary to work in a way that was going to create a better, safer system. I think a lot of what has to happen now is more education for judges making sure they align with the legislative intent of the bill and I think we will get there,\u201d said Buckner.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican working group is also pushing <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/legislation\/billstatus.asp?DocNum=5121&#038;GAID=17&#038;GA=103&#038;DocTypeID=HB&#038;LegID=153165&#038;SessionID=112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">House Bill 5121<\/a><\/strong>, which would enable revocation of a defendant\u2019s pretrial release if the defendant is charged with a new offense, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/legislation\/billstatus.asp?DocNum=5126&#038;GAID=17&#038;GA=103&#038;DocTypeID=HB&#038;LegID=153170&#038;SessionID=112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">House Bill 5126<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/legislation\/billstatus.asp?DocNum=5126&#038;GAID=17&#038;GA=103&#038;DocTypeID=HB&#038;LegID=153170&#038;SessionID=112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">,<\/a> which would revert back to pre-SAFE-T Act processes of the court issuing a warrant for a defendant\u2019s failure to appear in court.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Illinois SAFE-T Act gains attention as an accused individual released pretrial crashes into a sheriff&#8217;s deputy vehicle, resulting in her death. State Rep. Dennis Tipsword, R-Metamora, and Woodford County&#8217;s chief deputy sheriff, expressed concerns over the incident involving Nathan Sweeney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2219214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ap23305809731345-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2219213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ap23305809731345-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2219213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2219214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2219213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2219213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2219213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}