Chicago City Wire

Illinois lawmakers have a variety of opinions on the proposed legislation to make violence against police officers a hate crime.

State Rep. Marty Moylan (D-Des Plaines) was the sponsor for the bill to make violence against police a hate crime in Illinois.

"I’m in favor of anything that makes our officers safer, and I think something like this probably should have been done before now given all officers are facing now in the current social situation," Illinois Rep. David Krupa told the Chicago City Wire.

The ACLU has come out against the bill and has said that it won't solve the problem they are trying to address, increasing penalties for a crime doesn't reduce that crime according to the ACLU. Representative Krupa responded to that argument. 

"I think that's a phony argument that doesn't make much sense," Krupa said. "When someone thinks of doing something illegal, they have to think about the repercussions. I’m sure if committing murder only meant a two-year prison sentence or less, we’d probably see more it. If you have harsh penalties, people are less likely to do crime."

Krupa had ideas beyond legislation that he thought would help to keep police officers safe on the job. 

"Throughout the state, but especially in Chicago and Cook County, officers are not allowed to perform their job in the most productive way," Krupa told the Chicago City Wire. "Powers that be need to lift all these restrictions so officers can more effectively do their jobs while being able to better protect themselves."

According to FBI statistics, more than 60,000 law enforcement officers were injured while on duty last year. Proponents of the act cited an incident in July 2020 where around 1,000 demonstrators attacked a statue of Christopher Columbus as to why the legislation is necessary, according to a report by the Washington News Post.