Darien Chief's Tone On New Law Changes

DARIEN, IL — A few months ago, Darien Police Chief Greg Thomas said a new state law on police would make it harder to recruit officers. Afterward, state lawmakers approved a revised bill that Thomas said last week addressed police officials' concerns.

At a City Council meeting, he went through many of the provisions of the controversial law, enacted in the wake of last year's Black Lives Matter protests. In most cases, he said the requirements had little or no impact on Darien police.

The chief said many of the law's provisions are already in the police department's policies, including severe restrictions on chokeholds, an officer's duty to intervene when colleagues are breaking the law and requirements to maintain disciplinary records.

One new requirement is the filing of monthly reports on mental health incidents, which is new to the police department. That change, Thomas said, has a "pretty low impact."

He called a requirement for monthly reporting on use of force and appropriate reporting to the FBI "fantastic." In the past, he said, many police agencies did poorly in handling this function.

The law also bans the purchase and use of certain military equipment.

"We have never used military equipment," Thomas said. "I don't know who would get a tracked vehicle or a .50 caliber or anything like that."

All the changes that the chief spoke about took effect July 1. The lawmakers delayed to Jan. 1 other provisions that drew police agencies' opposition. That gives more time to consider the changes, Thomas said. He was among a group of police chiefs who met with the law's drafters.

Thomas has expressed particular concern about a provision that bars police from taking into custody those charged with Class B or Class C misdemeanors. Instead, people would get citations like traffic tickets.

In a speech to the City Council in March, Thomas said the law, as it was written, was not the best way to deal with trespassers. He said police should be able to take into custody someone who is trespassing and peeking into a person's windows.

The provision on misdemeanors takes effect Jan. 1.

At the council meeting, Thomas did not discuss the law's ending of cash bail as of Jan. 1, 2023. That provision would still let judges jail those who are deemed flight risks.

Asked about the bail provision, Thomas said he did not talk about it because it won't take effect for a while. Now, the focus is on more immediate changes, he said.

In an email to Patch, DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick's spokesman said the sheriff remains opposed to the new law, concerned with the long-term ramifications and unfunded mandates.

"Specifically, when it comes to the no-bail issue, the Sheriff is concerned that law enforcement will simply become a game of catch and release without the ability to provide assistance to some of those who need it the most," spokesman Justin Kmitch said. "At the county level, we lose any chance we have of rehabilitation or detoxification. We also lose the financial benefits of the inmate commissary fund, which funds many of those rehabilitation efforts."