by Jerry Nowicki, Capitol Information Illinois
Police companies in Illinois will quickly be required to do extra thorough background checks on potential officers.
The measure signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday got here in response to the July 2024 capturing demise of Sonya Massey in Sangamon County by a sheriff’s deputy. Massey had known as police to report a prowler and was in her residence when she was shot to demise by Deputy Sean Grayson whereas eradicating a pot of boiling water from the range, with permission.
The signing got here on the governor’s Capitol workplace, the place he was flanked by members of Massey’s household, together with daughter Jeanette “Summer season” Massey, son Malachi Hill-Massey, and mother Donna Massey, amongst others.
“I simply wish to say I miss my mother day by day – like day by day. And it hurts that she’s not right here with me,” Massey’s son, Hill-Massey, mentioned at a information convention. “However I’m very pleased that we may additionally get a invoice put in her title and her title may reside on for ceaselessly.”
The capturing
Physique digital camera video of Massey’s capturing confirmed Grayson shifting towards Massey and threatening to shoot her within the face after she mentioned, “I rebuke you within the title of Jesus.” She was holding the pot of water after deputies gave her permission to maneuver it.
Shortly after the capturing, the video confirmed an officer asking Grayson if he was okay.
“Yeah, I’m okay. This f—ing b—h is loopy,” he responded. He advised different officers on the scene, “She set it up on objective, so it’s what it’s,” later including he “didn’t have a selection.”
Grayson was fired from the sheriff’s workplace after the capturing. He pleaded not responsible to first-degree homicide prices and is scheduled for trial in Peoria in October.
Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, sponsored Senate Invoice 1953, which requires the hiring division to acquire and overview an individual’s in depth background earlier than making a job provide.
Turner mentioned she’s a neighbor of the Massey household and Sonya visited her residence per week earlier than she was killed. Sponsoring the invoice was the “least political factor” she’s executed in her 25 years of elected workplace, she mentioned.
“With Gov. Pritzker’s signature on this laws at present, I really feel assured that going ahead and over time, our communities and legislation enforcement could have constructed a trusting relationship, and I’ll have stored my promise to my childhood pals and Sonya’s mom,” Turner mentioned.
Grayson’s document
Grayson’s employment document got here underneath scrutiny after the capturing, together with the truth that he had labored for six departments in 4 years and had two convictions for driving underneath the affect.
Capitol Information Illinois reporting on the time revealed that Grayson had a historical past of reprimands and disobeying superiors at departments that beforehand employed him.
Grayson’s file from the Logan County Sheriff’s Workplace confirmed he continued a high-speed pursuit of a site visitors offender even after his supervisor ordered him to terminate it, a lady filed a grievance claiming Grayson tried to observe as she was strip searched, and her fiancé, who was in Logan County jail, claimed Grayson questioned him in entrance of different inmates as retaliation for his girlfriend’s grievance.
He was not fired from the division. Inside investigations had been closed when he resigned in April 2023 earlier than beginning at Sangamon County in Might 2023.
It’s unclear whether or not Sangamon County obtained full personnel data from Grayson’s former employers or interviewed his superiors earlier than hiring him.
“I imagine that Senate Invoice 1953 goes an extended strategy to stop people with backgrounds equivalent to Sean Grayson from ever changing into related to legislation enforcement,” Turner mentioned.
The brand new legislation
Beneath the brand new legislation, a police division or sheriff’s workplace making a rent can be required to request employment personnel information from the applicant’s earlier employers, together with different legislation enforcement companies. The earlier employer can be required to share the knowledge inside 14 days.
Regulation enforcement candidates can be required to signal a doc authorizing the discharge of knowledge, together with navy service data, police self-discipline databases, employment and legal historical past, driving data, tutorial credentials, a credit score verify, and extra.
Data offered is to be unredacted, apart from knowledge equivalent to monetary info and social safety numbers. If the previous employer denies a request, the potential employer could ask a court docket to intervene and may very well be reimbursed for related charges and prices.
The legislation particularly states that if an present collective bargaining settlement conflicts with the legislation, the legislation is not going to supersede it. However as soon as the legislation takes impact, no expiring collective bargaining settlement may be prolonged in a type that contradicts the legislation.
It additionally exempts any info if a state’s legal professional within the county the place the applicant was beforehand employed gives a written directive stating the earlier employer shouldn’t be legally approved to supply it.
The measure takes impact Jan. 1, 2026. It handed 101-12 within the Home and 56-0 within the Senate
