Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle, along with other sheriffs in the state, released a statement Thursday, Dec. 4, expressing desire to work with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the state legislature on revising the criminal justice reform SAFE-T Act that took effect in September 2023.

The statement was made in response to Pritzker saying the state government is “open to listening to what changes might need to be made” after a woman was set on fire Nov. 17 in Chicago. A Chicago man who has over 70 prior arrests, including eight felony convictions, has been accused in the case.

The SAFE-T Act’s history

The SAFE-T Act eliminated cash bail. Judges can still order someone to be detained as they await trial, but the new system is instead based on an offender’s level of risk of reoffending or fleeing prosecution. The SAFE-T Act also reformed police training, certification and use-of-force standards, expanded detainee rights, and gave the attorney general’s office authority to investigate alleged civil rights violations by law enforcement. It also required body cameras at all police departments by 2025.

VanVickle was president of the Illinois Sheriff’s Association when the SAFE-T Act was written and passed. His desire is to see judicial discretion restored, accountability strengthened, and ensuring that victims’ rights remain at the forefront in a potential revision, the statement said. He hopes the governor and legislators will engage directly with frontline law enforcement as they evaluate next steps.

“I welcome an honest, expert-led conversation about what is – and is not – working for public safety in Illinois,” VanVickle wrote. “Law enforcement across the state has raised consistent concerns about provisions that restrict our ability to detain violent and repeat offenders. We all want fairness in the justice system – but fairness cannot come at the expense of victims or our communities. When individuals accused of the most serious crimes are released after a single hearing, victims lose confidence and families feel less safe. That must change.”

The main change VanVickle would like to see in a revision to the SAFE-T Act is judges having more control over the detention or release of defendants. The Ogle County sheriff said the legislation has yielded different results in each of Illinois’ 102 counties.

Some counties have seen jail populations cut in half, while others have seen them rise significantly, VanVickle said. That is due to counties’ operations differing and lawyers interpreting the law differently in each county, he said. After the SAFE-T Act, defendants are being released almost immediately, or serving longer than they would have before 2023, he said.

“We’ve seen people that get arrested on a no bond failure to appear warrant on Thursday now sit in jail potentially until Monday,” VanVickle said. “Whereas pre-SAFE-T Act, they would have been out the next morning. Those are issues we see when they take away that judicial oversight. For me, that’s the biggest issue at hand, not allowing the judges to make those decisions.”

VanVickle cited the case of a woman who was arrested, transported to the Ogle County Jail for a detainable offense and kept in jail due to being “an issue with society” and was in a “true mental health situation”. She remained in jail for almost five months with no avenue, such as bond, to be released to seek care, he said.

The sheriff also cited cases of failure to appear arrest warrants issued if someone doesn’t show up to multiple court dates. A policy has been instituted by the sheriff’s office to only service those warrants north of Interstate 80 due to the likely quick release of those arrestees, he said.

“Because we know they’re going to get out of jail, so it makes no sense to go all the way across the state to pick up somebody to just be released immediately,” VanVickle said. “Those are the unintended consequences of taking judicial discretion away.”

VanVickle: Act has had negative effects on safety, taxpayers

Daily population numbers in the Ogle County Jail taken at the end of the day are typically low-to-mid 40s since the SAFE-T Act took effect. Prior to 2023, numbers were typically in the upper 60s. VanVickle said overall numbers of inmates processed into jail since 2023 are actually slightly higher, due to multiple arrests and quick releases under the new system.

The abolition of cash bail has created more processing and release work for Ogle County Jail personnel.

“Our corrections staff is three deputies on the day shift,” VanVickle said. “They still have to do rounds and take care of the jail population and get them to court, all while doing the processing for new inmates that are all basically in and then right back out. It has definitely created a strain on staff that really is a concern and, at some point, will need to be addressed through more staffing.”

Ogle County’s jail was constructed in recent years and opened in early 2021, and was designed to be operated pre-SAFE-T Act. Now-nonexistent bail money was planned for the county’s debt service.

“The jail is now essentially funded 100 percent by taxpayers,” VanVickle said. “The vast majority of our taxpayers don’t go to jail, but they have to fund the facility. It has not been that way in the past. Previously fines, fees and bond money contributed to that. Now it’s all on the backs of the taxpayers. It was previously never that way. That wasn’t our plan when we built the jail.”

The Ogle County sheriff believes bond has a place in the criminal justice reform structure, namely as a way to ensure that people attend court appearances. He said that process has become “more cumbersome” since the SAFE-T Act.

Ogle County Sheriff’s Office deputies are paid for their time in court on cases, and VanVickle said defendants not appearing in court due to less consequences is causing additional cost.

“It’s an unfunded mandate, spending more overtime dollars to have people in court and defendants don’t show up,” VanVickle said. “I remember one day being at the courthouse and over 30 different defendants didn’t show up for one court call. It definitely is an issue.”

VanVickle is still involved with the ISA’s executive board as its treasurer and as a past president. He will be part of an ISA legislative call in coming weeks on the topic of the SAFE-T Act. It is the Ogle County sheriff’s hope that discussions on criminal justice legislation are had by the legislature in coming months.

VanVickle estimates that “probably 90 percent” of sheriffs in the state would support a revision to the SAFE-T Act. As ISA president at the time of the legislation, he was the lone sheriff to testify in front of the legislature.

“I was asked one question: ‘Will you stop referring to offenders as criminals?’ That’s pretty much how the supermajority of the state legislature has worked with law enforcement since I’ve been in law enforcement,” VanVickle said. “That’s the frustrating part, the safety of our communities. While they came up with a catchy little title for the act, it hasn’t made our communities safer. It’s made it safer for the criminals.”