Macon Reporter

Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Champaign) recently turned to social media to criticize Democrats' "anti-police reforms."

On April 2, Chapin shared an article from the Chicago Sun-Times on his Facebook page about suspects awaiting trial on home confinement who get two days of unmonitored movement.

"Attention public and members of the media," Rose wrote on Facebook, "The next time a Dem politician tells you that the Democrat's anti-police reforms haven't even taken effect yet, send them this."

The suspects are instructed to use that time to find work, seek treatment for substance abuse or mental health issues, purchase food, or attend school.

However, many suspects have reportedly turned to criminal activities while unsupervised on "essential movement" days, resulting in charges of illegal gun possession, drug dealing and shoplifting sprees.

This "essential movement" is a result of a provision in the Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act, a criminal justice reform bill signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2021.

 Additionally, the SAFE-T Act removes cash bail by 2023, waives pretrial detention for certain individuals charged with crimes, and places restrictions on Illinois police officers.

Rose publicly criticized the SAFE-T Act in early March, according to the East Central Reporter.

“We are here today to discuss the reintroduction of our crime package and I want to take a moment to step backward,” he said. “In October we stood out at the police officers memorial and introduced a package of bills designed to protect the citizens, the state, designed to equip, protect, train, help bring more police out on our streets, to provide mental health services within our county jails with the end goal of reducing this criminal plague, this scourge of violence that has hit the state of Illinois."

Injustice Watch reports that law enforcement and police unions have also argued that the SAFE-T Act endangers public safety.