An Illinois Democrat defended proposing a bill restricting police from making traffic stops as law enforcement and lawmakers pushed back.
State Rep. Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago) introduced House Bill 4603 but ended up pulling it days later with no co-sponsors and plenty of objections. The eyebrow-raising measure sought to limit the ability of police officers in the state to pull over drivers for some violations.
With criticism rolling in from various state legislators and members of the law enforcement community, Slaughter asserted that it should be the start of a “conversation” about the long-standing problem of “racial bias in traffic stops.”
UNREAL. Democrats in Illinois have proposed a bill that would stop police from conducting traffic stops for most violations. Their reasoning is because of “racial bias in traffic stops.”
They want to make Illinois even more dangerous and put more lives, including black lives, in… pic.twitter.com/LKLKlLj4Vp
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 1, 2024
Slaughter was “one of the lead sponsors behind Illinois’ Safe-T Act, which took effect last year and marked an end to cash bail in Illinois,” according to Fox2.
The summary of House Bill 4603, which was filed Monday, states that officers cannot pull anyone over for failing to display registration plates or stickers, having an expired registration sticker; or “violating general speed restrictions.”
Excessive tint, defective mirrors, an obstructed windshield, and excessive exhaust are also listed as violations for which police can no longer pull motorists over as well as a driver failing to use a seat belt. However, drivers can be stopped if their speeding or improper lane usage constitutes a felony or misdemeanor.
“If you think about that,” said Jim Kaitschuk, executive director of the Illinois Sheriff’s Association, “you are in a 30-mile-an-hour speed zone in a residential area and somebody’s going 50 and we can’t stop the vehicle?”
The bill also stated that “no evidence discovered or obtained as the result of a stop in violation of these provisions, including, but not limited to, evidence discovered or obtained with the operator’s consent, shall be admissible in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding.”
“If this bill becomes law, as proposed, it will further tie the hands of law enforcement officers across the state, and prevent us from protecting the citizens of our jurisdictions,” Greene County Sheriff Rob McMillen said, adding that he “vehemently oppose[d]” the measure and “any other law that puts the citizens of Greene County in danger.”
“When these things come out, I want the people with my county, the people who vote for me and expect me to keep them safe, to know that I do not support this,” DeWitt County Sheriff Mike Walker said.
Illinois State Representative John Cabello blasted the “implications” of the proposed bill.
“There’s a lot of implications that would be very, very bad if this bill were to pass,” he said. “The state police are pretty much gone if this goes through, their job is mainly to enforce traffic laws on state roads. What do they do from that point on?”
State Representative Maurice West told WIFR that Slaughter had an underlying motive for introducing the bill.
“He shared with me that the sole reason to file this legislation is to start conversation,” West said. “He desires to focus on racial disparities during traffic stops. Black people are three times more likely to be pulled over than white people in the city of Rockford.”
In fact, Slaughter issued his own statement saying just that.
“For decades, Illinois has wrestled with the challenge of racial bias in traffic stops, and the disparate outcomes that are too often the result,” the Democrat said in a statement, according to WCIA.
“At no point in this effort has anyone’s goal been to take away the tools police need to keep communities safe, but instead to continue an important conversation. House Bill 4603 continues that conversation. It’s my hope that discussions with law enforcement and advocates can identify minor infractions that on their own do not necessitate a traffic stop,” Slaughter added.
Jim Kaitschuk updated to say that the lawmaker had pulled the bill.
“I appreciated the conversation I had with Rep. Slaughter,” Kaitschuk said of a Wednesday call. “His indication was this bill went way too far for where he intended for it to go.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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