McCombie files two bills to address violence against DCFS social workers

SPRINGFIELD — Statehouse Republican Leader Tony McCombie of Savanna filed two bills to heighten the penalties for harming social workers, naming the legislative package, in part, after a Dixon woman who was killed in 2017.

McCombie represents the 89th district in northwest Illinois.

From the outset of this legislative session, McCombie said she would make protections for employees of the Department of Children and Family Services a priority.

“There are no shortage of issues we must address at DCFS, but ensuring the safety of the employees who work day and night to protect our most vulnerable is the top priority—and my legislation will help make that a reality,” McCombie said in a news release issued on Tuesday. “Pam Knight and Deidre Silas were killed in the line of duty, and more must be done so that tragedies like this don’t continue to happen.”

Pam Knight and Deidre Silas were killed in the line of duty, and more must be done so that tragedies like this don’t continue to happen.”

—  State Rep. Tony McCombie, Republican of Savanna

There are two bills in the Knight-Silas Acts.

House bill 1460 makes harming a worker for DCFS, the Department on Aging Adult Protective Services or Ombudsman a Class 2 felony. The bill contains language, however, that increases the penalty to a Class 1 felony if an assault results in great bodily harm, a permanent disability or disfigurement.

House bill 1461 makes harming a DCFS worker a Class 2 felony. Again, incidents resulting in a disability or disfigurement would also result in a Class 1A felony.

Knight, a former police officer, was 59 years old when she died four months after an incident when she was beaten into a coma by the father of a child she was taking into protective custody. She had been working out of an office in Sterling on Sept. 29, 2017, when she went to a residence in Whiteside County. Not finding anyone at home, Knight crossed jurisdictions into Carroll County, in the process, she lost the police escort. She was alone when she was attacked outside the home of the child’s relative.

Andrew “A.J.” Sucher, 28, of Rock Falls was sentenced July 10, 2019, for the first-degree murder.

Deirdre Silas was slain in Sangamon County in 2022 during a home visit.

McCombie in her first year as the minority leader in the House, has tasked a working group of Republican lawmakers to address what she contends are a range of issues at the DCFS.