Lawmakers will be taking up as soon as this weekend a bill that would have massive implications for the future of law enforcement and communities in Illinois.

A 600-plus page bill, House Bill 163 would, according to the Illinois Sheriff's Association, "eliminate law enforcement as we know it from every community in the state" to "invalidate constitutionally protected due process of officers".

DeWitt County Sheriff Mike Walker tells Regional Radio News the two biggest pieces of the document that is 611 pages and was introduced on Tuesday of this week are allowing officers to be punished or fired based on anonymous and unsubstantiated or unverifiable complaints-no sworn affidavits and a mandate that those unsubstantiated and unverified complaints be kept to be used against officers forever, with no destruction and no limits on how they can be utilized to inflict harm on officers. The other piece is the elimination of qualified immunity for police.

The bill also calls for the elimination of charges for habitual criminals. According to the Sheriff, a citizen that continues to commit the same crimes often escalates their charges. He uses the example of a DUI as one of these types of crimes.

A smaller yet somewhat impactful piece of the bill is the elimination of the federal surplus program that allows law enforcement agencies to acquire decommissioned military equipment, something the Sheriff says is almost exclusively of no consequence to the public.

The Sheriff emphasizes this is not just a bill that impacts police officers and their departments but it also impacts the community. He explains there are a lot of provisions that would keep criminals out of jail and going right back on the streets to cause more harm and damage to Illinois communities.

Sheriff Walker has heard from one fellow sheriff that if this bill passes, he will leave the field. Sheriff Walker is also concerned about his own department who has officers who are highly educated that could easily find less stressful work.

The Illinois Sheriff's Association and the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police have all opposed this bill which was put on Tuesday and will be taken up in committee Saturday. Sheriff Walker implores the public to look at this bill for themselves and contact their local lawmakers if they do not like it. 

He says this is not a Republican/Democrat issue but rather a right/wrong issue.