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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The United States of America, for more than two | ||||||
| 3 | hundred and forty years, has moved in the direction of being a | ||||||
| 4 | society of laws and not of individual men nor women; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, In order to create a society of laws, it is | ||||||
| 6 | necessary, a requirement of every ordered nation around the | ||||||
| 7 | world, that the society place one of its toughest burdens, the | ||||||
| 8 | day-to-day enforcement of law and order, upon a professional | ||||||
| 9 | group of service officers who are trained to fulfill this role; | ||||||
| 10 | and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, The American people have, up until now, been | ||||||
| 12 | distinguished among all the people of the world in our unique | ||||||
| 13 | understanding of, and respect for, the burdens faced by law | ||||||
| 14 | enforcement first responders, the men and women we call "the | ||||||
| 15 | police"; and
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| 16 | WHEREAS, In the extraordinary year of 2020, which has now | ||||||
| 17 | come to an end, all U.S. first responders have faced | ||||||
| 18 | unprecedented challenges as part of their day-to-day work; | ||||||
| 19 | because of the nature of police work and the people with whom | ||||||
| 20 | police officers have to deal, this is and must be, as there is | ||||||
| 21 | no alternative, a special burden, a special challenge, for | ||||||
| 22 | first responders in the field of law enforcement; and
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| 1 | WHEREAS, Perhaps because of the conditions of this | ||||||
| 2 | extraordinary and tragic year, 2020, many Americans, many | ||||||
| 3 | well-meaning Americans, many good Americans, have become | ||||||
| 4 | confused; all of us are bearing our own weights, and so in a | ||||||
| 5 | time when we should be showing our uniformed men and women of | ||||||
| 6 | law enforcement more understanding than ever, some are showing | ||||||
| 7 | them less; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, Crimes committed by police against our citizens | ||||||
| 9 | cannot nor will not be tolerated; these individuals must be | ||||||
| 10 | held accountable and prosecuted for their acts; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, The great vast majority of men and women who wear | ||||||
| 12 | the badge are committed to their mission of protecting | ||||||
| 13 | law-abiding citizens and enforcing the laws of the State of | ||||||
| 14 | Illinois, and they should not be vilified with legislation that | ||||||
| 15 | diminishes their ability to serve, nor legislation which is | ||||||
| 16 | punitive to those who serve honorably; and
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| 17 | WHEREAS, At a time when the City of Chicago sadly tallied | ||||||
| 18 | 774 murders in 2020, a 50% increase from 2019, the General | ||||||
| 19 | Assembly should be working to reduce crime, not moving flawed | ||||||
| 20 | legislation through a "lame duck session"; therefore, be it
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| 21 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
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| 1 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 2 | the sponsors of this resolution are committed to effective and | ||||||
| 3 | thoughtful changes to the criminal justice system and policing | ||||||
| 4 | in a bipartisan transparent manner with all stakeholders | ||||||
| 5 | represented, and this approach on issues of this importance | ||||||
| 6 | will serve the State of Illinois and its citizens well; and be | ||||||
| 7 | it further
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| 8 | RESOLVED, That the sponsors of this resolution affirm our | ||||||
| 9 | support for the men and women of Illinois who wear the badge.
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