Three years ago, Governor JB Pritzker signed the Emergency Services and Community Supports Act, also known as the Stephon Watts Act.
Stephon was an autistic young man who was killed by Calumet City police in 2012 during a mental health crisis. Friends and family later realized that the killing was motivated in part by police using criminal enforcement tactics in a situation that required a mental health approach. The same issue was later identified in the killings of Laquan McDonald in Chicago and now Sonya Massey in Springfield.
This summer, news reports indicated another incident. A Chicago police officer nearly killed a teenage boy in distress using “lethal force,” pinning him to the ground and choking him, only retreating when the boy told him to “blow my brains out.” All of the victims were people of color.
A more aggressive and resourced effort to implement the Stephon Watts Act would reduce the likelihood of similar tragedies. In the three years since Pritzker signed the landmark policy change into law, there have been multiple delays in implementation as agencies try to work out the details needed to get mobile mental health professionals to respond to emergency calls across the state.
This new legislation requires 911 operators to refer appropriate mental and behavioral health calls to mental health professionals instead of police. In jurisdictions that implement the protocols, there are significant reductions in harm rates and higher rates of appropriate mental health care for people who need it.
The state needs to allocate more financial resources and personnel to coordinate the implementation of the law.
The law prioritizes mental health providers as first responders to mental health emergency calls and requires police to coordinate with them when police are dispatched to calls that do not appear to involve criminal activity.
Under this law, Illinois says that police actions should be handled by police, that trained health care professionals should handle health care — and that a mental health crisis is health care.
Realizing the political vision of the law is worth the time, effort, and resources. By directing every call for help to the police, we are putting good cops in situations that cannot be resolved by criminal law enforcement methods, and this puts the lives of Illinoisans at risk. It is time for Illinois to move forward.
Candace Coleman, Community Strategist and Criminal Justice Community Organizer, Access Living
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Check the facts about gun deaths.
On August 28, PBS NewsHour on WTTW ran a special report by Judy Woodruff on how groups in Chicago are fighting the narrative that their city is a hotbed of violence. She introduced her report this way: “Chicago has one of the highest gun death rates of any major city in the country.”
It’s deeply disappointing that due diligence wasn’t done beforehand. In fact, in 2022, Chicago ranked 27th among major cities in gun homicide rates, according to Everytown’s analysis of FBI data, looking at deaths per 100,000 people.
William Sellers, Lincoln Square
Stop making false claims about “illegitimate” voting.
This is in response to reader Mike Daly’s letter to the editor titled “Democrats, Protect Voter Integrity.” Illinois elections are free and fair, and illegal voting is not a problem.
I have served as an election judge in a number of recent elections and I highly recommend you do the same. Get trained, volunteer with your neighbors, take an oath that says in part, “I will support the Constitution of the United States,” and learn how to vote.
If this job is not for you, I recommend that you become an official election observer and be part of the process of ensuring free and fair elections. Repeating the lie that elections are rigged or unfair, or that there is “illegal” voting can be challenged by you and by people who support your views by participating in the elections. Information can be found at elections.il.gov.
Tom Wheeler, West Rogers Park
Property tax circuit breakers are on.
We are writing in response to Commissioner George Cardenas' comment calling for the implementation of property tax circuit breakers in Illinois (“Tax circuit breakers would ease the burden of high property taxes in Cook County”).
We could not agree more with Commissioner Cardenas' call to action.
Last year, Kids First Chicago conducted workshops with more than 160 parents from across Chicago to explore the root causes that drive families to leave the city. These conversations, which included more than 1,500 hours of in-depth discussions, revealed a clear consensus: Chicago’s high cost of living is a significant factor driving families to leave.
Our subsequent report, “Chicago’s Enrollment Crisis: Adopting Parent-Led Solutions,” confirmed that property taxes, in particular, are a critical issue for low- and moderate-income families in Chicago.
As Cardenas points out, Illinois’ current property tax system is regressive, disproportionately burdening those who can least afford it. This is especially troubling in areas undergoing gentrification, where rising property taxes threaten to displace residents in the long term.
Circuit breaker programs offer a potentially powerful solution by providing targeted property tax relief based on household income. Importantly, these programs can be designed to benefit both property owners and renters.
In Chicago, the burden of increased property taxes often falls on renters, driving up rents. This has created an unsustainable situation where nearly 1 in 2 Chicago renter households are “housing cost burdened,” meaning they spend 30% or more of their monthly income on rent and utilities. Even more alarming, our analysis found that nearly 1 in 4 Chicago renter households are “severely housing cost burdened,” with 50% or more of their income going to landlords and utility companies.
The parents we engaged overwhelmingly supported the idea of a cycle-breaking program, which would make property taxes fairer and help stabilize communities by reducing the financial pressures that force families out of their homes and neighborhoods.
Incorporating circuit breakers into Illinois' tax policy is a necessary step toward making Chicago a more attractive and affordable place for families.
We urge state policymakers to prioritize adopting the Circuit Breaker program as part of a broader strategy to preserve Chicago families and make our city a place where everyone can thrive.
Hal Woods, Chief Policy Officer, and Tiera Pearson, Community Engagement Coordinator, Kids First Chicago
Don't Blame 'Defund the Police' for Staffing Problems
The article by retired suburban police chief Tom Wetzel is far from the mark, especially in blaming the “defund the police” movement for the low hiring standards that led to the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who called police for help in Sangamon County, only to be killed by the responding officer (“To prevent another shooting like Sonya Massey, police departments must do a better job of hiring”).
Anti-police activism is an unpopular ideology with very little real political power and almost no say in who becomes an officer. That is the prerogative of the politicians who appoint the police chiefs who make those decisions.
These politicians in question are not subject to any “strict scrutiny,” the leader said.
Last time I checked, America is still a democracy where people have the right to have their own ideas, no matter how unpopular they may be. It is unfair to blame them for bad policies they did nothing to create.
David L. Milligan, Portage Park
The goal is to achieve bipartisanship, not centrism.
Many Democrats and Republicans in this presidential campaign seem to be constantly looking for candidates who support centrist positions. The problem seems to be that they have a hard time defining what centrist positions really are. For example, several editorials suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris could improve her chances if she didn’t move too far to the left. Others said that former President Donald Trump would be better off if he stopped pushing far-right rhetoric.
What is far left or far right? Based on my discussions with friends and colleagues, I’ve come to the conclusion that defining centrist politics is based more on individual beliefs than on specific platforms or agendas. And therein lies the problem. Trump thinks big tax cuts for the wealthy are centrist. Harris thinks women’s right to choose is centrist. Yet our country is deeply divided on these two issues alone.
I firmly believe that the true meaning of centralism lies in the term bipartisanship. We used to enjoy a Congress that was able to come together on both sides and agree on legislation that was good for the country. The process involved debate, compromise, and sometimes pressure from the voters.
In my opinion, party conventions provide the best definition of central positions. But party legislation seems to have died out.
What does it mean, in my view? Rather than looking for candidates who we think are centrists, I think we should focus on candidates who believe in and are willing to support partisan legislation. I think the true centrist is produced more through partisan efforts than programmatic positions. Why? Because we have a hard time agreeing on what the centrist is.
George Comer, Crown Point, Indiana
Grocery merger is 'ridiculous'
If I understand this correctly, Albertsons, Juul's parent company, is threatening to cut locations and workers' jobs unless it is allowed to merge operations with its main competitor, Kroger.
If the merger is approved, the “new” company will cut locations and jobs. The only difference is that the leadership will walk away like bandits, while consumers and Joel’s employees suffer. It’s ridiculous.
Robert A. Kizilis, Palos Heights
Closing schools with low enrollment
When sales decline in private businesses, cuts are made to balance the budget and stay in business. The same should be done in CPS schools with schools with fewer than 75 students.
There is no reason to spend millions maintaining large school buildings when these students could be moved to other schools with more space, along with their teachers and staff. No one wants to move to a new school, but with our state and city facing a massive budget shortfall, tough decisions must be made. There is no more money to be found, and taxpayers should not be burdened with high taxes and fees again.
Mike Kirschberg, Little Italy
make walls work
I am responding to a recent letter from Peter Caruso suggesting that walls that worked to keep protesters out of the Democratic National Convention would work anywhere. His hypothesis may be correct, but only if every foot of wall could be manned and constantly monitored.
John Hanks, Streeterville
