HR0909 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0909 LRB101 22174 MST 73202 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Police use of force is among the leading causes of death for young men of color; and

WHEREAS, Black people, including Black women and girls, Native Americans, and Latinos are killed by police at disproportionately higher rates than their White peers; and

WHEREAS, Police brutality and the use of excessive force have robbed countless communities of precious lives, inflicted intergenerational harm and trauma to families, and intensified our nation's mental health crisis; and

WHEREAS, The killings of hundreds each year and the demonstrations that followed have brought sustained national attention to racially biased police violence against people; and

WHEREAS, The conduct of police officers who engage in racial profiling and excessive force, which can include shootings, brutal beatings, fatal chokings, and any other excessive treatment, is a violation of federal and State constitutional law; and

WHEREAS, The rule of law within our nation is undermined when police officers engage in conduct that is inconsistent with federal and State constitutional law; and

WHEREAS, As elected officials, we have a moral and constitutional obligation to protect the civil rights and liberties of all people within our State from police abuses; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we support strengthening efforts to eliminate instances of excessive use of force, to conduct stringent oversight and independent investigations into instances of police brutality, racial profiling, and excessive use of force, and to hold individual law enforcement officers and police departments accountable by doing the following:

(1) Calling on the United States Department of Justice to reinstitute its role in investigating police departments that violate civil rights and individual instances of police brutality, violence, and racial profiling and to assume a role in filing briefs urging courts to reconsider decisions that permit unreasonable and excessive police practices and establish meaningful oversight of consent decrees; and

(2) Establishing independent all-civilian review boards with the authority to effectively investigate incidents of police misconduct to ensure meaningful community-level oversight, transparency, accountability, and discipline of police officers; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we call for the adoption of sound and unbiased law enforcement policies at all levels of government that reduce the disparate impact of police brutality and use of force on Black and Brown people and other historically marginalized communities; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the President of the United States, the U.S. Senate Majority Leader, the U.S. Senate Minority Leader, the U.S. Speaker of the House, the U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader, and all members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation.