This fine young gentleman had a hammer in his backpack and walked down Golf Rd, breaking out the back windows of multiple cars. He hit Schaumburg for 80 different cars, and what the article does not mention, he also hit our town for at least 60 more (business parking lots), that we know of; a lot of the owners didn't bother to report it since there will never be restitution made. So this is where the current system succeeded. He could not post bail and had to stay in lockup for the weekend until he could attend bond court. He could have been charged with at least 140 Criminal Damages to Property-all felonies. He is only 20 years old and has a serious criminal history. When he was staying with us, he was unable to victimize anyone else, at least for the weekend. He, of course, was immediately released without having to post bond on electronic monitoring, when he got to bond court. So he is now free to go berserk once more. He is also extremely mentally ill, but since he refused all offers of aid and did not say in any officer's presence that he was going to kill himself, no one could compel him into the hospital for mental evaluation (a discussion for another time).
Had this occurred after January 1, 2023, we could not have held on to him. The second he was captured and processed, he would have to be released and given a notification to go to court. The number of victims does not come into account, and worse yet, this would be considered a non-violent crime since it is CDP. He then would have the ability to go take out another 80 cars, be arrested, bonded out, rinse and repeat over and over. One of the falsehoods that supporters of this bill are saying is that we have the ability to contact the on-call emergency judge and get a writ and hold him over for a pre-trail hearing. The problem in Cook County District 3, is good luck in getting a hold of that judge; in emergency situations in the past (homocide, kidnapping, and sexual assault), we have sent a car to his/her home to wake them up. Are we going to do that for a property crime? It is a non-violent crime, and the judge, knowing that at the pretrail hearing, he will be immediately released on electronic monitoring (will discuss the 24 grace period with that later). Further, how long can we hold onto a prisoner, where he is eligible for release, to dig up a judge and get the paperwork completed to hold him? I see a lawsuit right there, "officer, you could have released my client immediately after processing, but you determined he was a threat to the public, so you held him for two hours in order to contact a judge?" What if the judge doesn't grant it? Then I illegally detained him for an extra two hours? There is literally no process in place to address this. So what are the perimeters to get him held, 80 cars, 140 cars, 2000 cars? How many victims are needed before his supposed injustice of not being able to post bond is overcome?
Here is a brief list (and certainly not complete) of some of the extreme crimes that they will be immediately released:
Aggravated Battery
Aggravated DUI
Aggravated Fleeing and Eluding
Arson
Burglary
Drug-Induced Homicide
Intimidation
Kidnapping
Robbery
2nd Degree Murder
Threatening a Public Official
Nearly All Drug Offenses
The question is still in place how many of these crimes must be committed in a row before we can take the risk of holding a prisoner that could normally immediately hit the street, how long do we have, and what the point if even we get that writ, he goes to bond and is immediately released on electronic monitoring.
Safe-T act is only about making it safer for offenders to make new victims.
