Bail reform under the new SAFE-T Act allows criminals to roam the streets in Chicago.
By Eileen Griffin
After several months under the new SAFE-T Act, eliminating bail for many criminals, crime has skyrocketed in Chicago.
During the year 2023, the city of Chicago was plagued by robberies, car-jackings, and smash and grabs, the Chicago Tribune reports. The constant threat of violence caused discontent among city residents.
In 2023, robberies were up 23 percent and vehicle thefts were up 38 percent. While Chicago’s homicide rate has fallen, it still has the highest number of homicides of any city in America.
In September of 2023, the SAFE-T Act was implemented. This new law eliminated cash bail and reduced the penalties of some crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, Fox News reports. The law also makes it easier to revoke the license of any police officer with complaints on his record.
Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Bullard told Fox that these reforms made it even more difficult for police officers to do their jobs.
“They’re wanting to damage the policing profession and they’re having some success at it,” Bullard said. “Policing leaders need to step up and stand against it. Very loud, very vocal, very strongly.”
Bullard said most police officers were against the Act and they predicted the outcomes that they are seeing now.
“It was some drug offenses, some violent offenses and some DUI charges all released without having to post any kind of bond,” Bullard said. “You see a significant amount of offenders being placed relatively quickly back out into society.”
In addition to the challenges police officers have had during the year, thousands of migrants were housed in Chiago police stations for several months hampering their ability to do their jobs.
With all the hurdles place in their way, Bullard says police will still do the job they were hired to do.
“Try as they might, they cannot take away the honor in what we do for a living,” Bullard said.
Shortly after the SAFE-T Act was implemented, several District Attorneys expressed concerns about the no-bail policy. DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said under the new law about half of the suspects arrested for crimes walk free with no cash bail.
Berlin told ABC that it is just a matter of time before a dangerous criminal commits another serious crime.
Without bail, not only are the streets more dangerous and police more frustrated, but there is also an economic impact to the bail reform law.
Businesses are closing or reducing services the Chicago Tribune reports. Shop owners are frustrated with the level of crime.
The soft-on-crime policies allow groups of criminals to attack businesses over and over without repercussion. There is no deterrence, and they fear no consequences.
Often called, “crash and grabs” a group of people will crash a car into a store to gain access and steal merchandise. The crashed car, usually a stolen vehicle, is left inside the store. Business owners are stuck not only with lost inventory, but the cost to repair the damage to the store.
“The tactic involves a crew of thieves driving a vehicle through storefronts and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise before fleeing in cars,” writes Alysa Guffey for the Tribune. “While owners say they are committed to their bricks-and-mortar stores, the lack of arrests and the relentless burglaries have them wondering how they can keep their businesses afloat.”
The criminals are rarely caught leaving them free to continue the crime spree.
Several large stores have already left Chicago primarily due to theft, as Heartland Daily News previously reported. Large stores like Walmart have closed in cities where they are plagued by theft.
Democratic Alderman Raymond Lopez told Fox that while many citizens are fleeing Chicago some do not have the ability to leave. Those who cannot leave are “hunted like prey,” Lopez says.
“Common sense requires us to start standing up and pushing back on the criminality in our neighborhoods, to start holding people and parents accountable, because oftentimes these are 12, 13, 14-year-olds who are engaging in this behavior, such as the armed carjacking that is so rampant in the city of Chicago,” Lopez told the outlet.
Lopez blames the liberal agenda and progressive policies for the failure.
“They are often talked about for the progressive agenda, for the extreme liberal agenda that says they care,” Lopez said. “But their policies, particularly when it comes to police reform and criminal justice reform, in my opinion, are very racist because oftentimes the victims of the most heinous crimes by the repeat offenders are those same Black and Brown residents that the White liberals claim to care about but truly don’t.”
