The insufferable Sheriff Jon Sandage has announced he will not be seeking re-election for a third term in 2022. Sheriff Sandage was first elected in 2014. He came to the decision after “after extensive thought and discussions with family.
“I have had the honor of serving the citizens of McLean County for 30 years, the last 6 and a half as sheriff, in one of the best departments in the state of Illinois. This decision has not been an easy one as there are still many challenges ahead for our department, and I will face them with the same dedication and vigor as I have throughout my career. I am proud of the progress we have made in my two terms as Sheriff, and this has only been possible because of all the dedicated people I work with.
“I would like to thank my family and friends for their continued support, the citizens for their faith and trust in me and our department, my staff for their hard work and professionals, but most of all, I want to thank my wife and children who have sacrificed in order to allow me to pursue the profession I love.”
This clause in the Bloomington Police Department union contract is causing concern.
According to interim-Chief Gregg Scott & City Manager Tim Gleason, nothing in the contract would prevent a co-responder model. This means crisis teams would be the first responders on the scene along with police officers. But, we don’t want co-responder models. We want these crisis teams responding without police presence, because the mere presence of a police officer is itself an escalation of any situation.
Interim-BPD Police Chief Gregg Scott (Left); City Manager Tim Gleason (Right)
We want the norm to be that individuals experiencing a mental health crisis are not considered a threat to public safety. By having crisis teams be the first responders on the scene (without police), they can determine whether an individual is only a threat to their own health (i.e., we treat this as a health care issue); or, if they do in fact present a larger threat to public safety. If it is the latter situation, then the crisis team can request police assistance to help resolve the conflict. But, treating these mental health crisis as instances requiring health care and/or social welfare is the norm we want to see in society.
Assistant Chief Wamsley, Interim-Chief Scott, and City Manager Gleason all made very clear in the way they framed the conversation that a non-co-responder model could very likely be a violation of Article 20 of the union contract. The PBPA’s membership mainly lives outside the city limits, doesn’t pay property taxes, and can’t even vote for the elected officials their bargaining with. If PBPA did file an Article 20 grievance against the City of Bloomington for implementing crisis teams without initial assistance from police, they would be sending the message that they–and not the tax paying residents of Bloomington–should be in charge of how the City spends and prioritizes its resources; and they should be in charge of how the community chooses to democratically address its own social problems.
CESSA would create an alternative response to the police for most nonviolent, noncriminal calls for service. CESSA stresses that just because an individual is only a threat to themselves this does NOT constitute a threat to public safety. Finally, CESSA is designed so that incarceration, institutionalization, or in anyway restricting a person’s freedom is the last resort in resolving a situation. CESSA is a non-co-responder model. Crisis teams under CESSA would be the first responders on the scene and have authority over the situation to best determine the needs of the individual in crisis, and to be able to determine based on their own experience how best to provide help and not harm.
Agitation Rising was live at a memorial for George Floyd on the West Side of Bloomington on Allin Street Sunday, April 25th, 2021. It was titled “Waiting to Exhale” and was organized by the NAACP of Bloomington-Normal, Not In Our Town, and Moms Demand Action. It was held at the George Floyd Mural to celebrate the conviction of Derek Chauven for murdering George Floyd.
Which is better? Policy or performance? Changes in policy are more important and more impactful than changes in performance. Actions speak louder than words; and, policy speaks louder than gestures.
The contentious debate around qualified immunity will be introduced at the McLean County Justice Committee this Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021.
Qualified immunity is a Supreme Court legal doctrine that protects individual officers from being held personally responsible if they violate a person’s rights. The bar is so high for proving an officer’s actions disqualify them from qualified immunity, that unless a previous court ruled that the exact same actions with the exact same circumstances were unconstitutional, qualified immunity will hold regardless of the underlying constitutional merits of the case.
Sheriff Sandage has said he worries if qualified immunity is abolished, no one will ever want to be an officer again. Police unions have claimed it would become open season on officers being sued for frivolous issues. Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner opposed abolishing qualified immunity as well.
McLean County Justice Committee Chair & Board Member for District 10, Chuck Erickson
The chair of the McLean County Justice Committee Chair, Distict 10 Board Member Chuck Erickson, introduced a resolution affirming the boards unwavering & uncritical support of law enforcement in response to Governor J.B. Pritzker signing criminal justice reform legislation in late-February. Included in the resolution is support for qualified immunity.
The law HB 3653 does not get rid of qualified immunity, but it does create a commission to study the issue and bring forth an opinion. It seems some fear it is inevitable that qualified immunity will be abolished.
Now, some individuals who are far more perfidious than I, will allege that abolishing qualified immunity will have a “chilling” effect on police officers and limit their ability and/or willingness to respond to critical incidents without hesitation. These are split-second decisions after all. Mistakes happen right? Why should police have to worry about frivolous incidents?
However, the “chilling” effect simply doesn’t hold temperature. Law professors Joanna Schwartz & Seth Stoughton carefully explain why this is.
“The Supreme Court’s constitutional standards make ample allowance for officers to make reasonable mistakes. When assessing the constitutionality of a stop, the Supreme Court has said that officers must act reasonably, but, ‘[t]o be reasonable is not to be perfect, and so the Fourth Amendment allows for some mistakes on the part of government officials, giving them ‘fair leeway for enforcing the law in the community’s protection.’ For that reason, officers can constitutionally stop or frisk someone when they have ‘reasonable suspicion,’ and that that low bar is met so long as there is a ‘moderate chance’ that the officer’s suspicion is correct. An officer can get a warrant or arrest someone when they have ‘probable cause,’ which requires only a ‘fair probability’ that they are right.
In short, officers have plenty of leeway to make mistakes without violating the Constitution. For example, courts have held that officers act constitutionally when:
-officers arrest the wrong person, so long as their mistake was reasonable; -officers execute a search warrant on the wrong apartment, so long as the apartment numbers were similar; -officers pull someone over for having an air freshener attached to their rearview mirror and not having a front license plate—neither of which was illegal—so long as the officer had a reasonable but mistaken understanding of the law
Qualified immunity does not protect officers who make reasonable mistakes because reasonable mistakes do not violate the Fourth Amendment in the first place. Instead, qualified immunity shields government officials from liability when they have acted unreasonably (taking into account the deference that the Supreme Court has built into that term)—so long as there isn’t another court decision holding virtually identical facts to be unconstitutional. Insisting that officers are so afraid of the consequences for their unreasonable actions that they will refuse to do their job demeans officers”
Furthermore, McLean County already has indemnification & duty to defend clauses in their union contract. Regardless of qualified immunity, those legal mechanisms still exist to protect officers. There are legitimate reasons to indemnify and defend officers. But, is blanket indemnification truly the right way to go? If something similar to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, or Elijah McLain occurred here, does the county really want to pay out taxpayer dollars to acts that are unreasonably unconstitutional? Perhaps a mechanism whereby in certain particularly egregious instances, the county could opt-out.
All this being said, this is simply a non-binding resolution. The county does not actually have the power to unilaterally grant their officers qualified immunity, especially if the state chooses to abolish it in the future. This resolution seems to be a performative stunt by Sheriff Jon Sandage, States’ Attorney Don Knapp, and Republican County Board members to show they support law enforcement and anyone who disagrees with this resolution does not.
The Bloomington-Normal Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America released this statement encouraging the community to leave a public comment for the Justice Committee & contact County Board members to state their opposition to this resolution.
“The Bloomington-Normal chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America strongly oppose the judicial doctrine of qualified immunity. Qualified immunity does nothing but protect bad officers from accountability by preventing victims of police violence & their families from receiving just compensation for blatant constitutional violations. After a year of uprisings by Black Liberation activists & supporters of police accountability, it is in extremely poor taste to turn around & support gross abuses & violations for the police.
We would also like to point out this body does not have the power to enact qualified immunity protections for officers. Furthermore, McLean County already has indemnification & duty to defend clauses in both the Sheriff Deputies & Corrections officers union contract, which protect officers from frivolous litigation. Ending qualified immunity will not alter those protections.
Qualified immunity is bad policy, and it makes all police officers look bad by protecting the worst among them. It encourages officers to be reckless and creates a culture of impunity something which our own local sheriff has brazenly flaunted. The working people of this state support police transparency & accountability. Vote no on this resolution.”
Email Action: email camille.rodriguez@mcleancountyil.gov and admin@mcleancountyil.gov with “Public Comment for Justice Committee Meeting” BEFORE 4:30 PM on MONDAY March 1st. and tell the county board to “VOTE NO on resolution supporting Qualified Immunity.” Contact County Board members.
Virtual Town Hall: Discussion on Ending Money Bail organized to educate the public on ending money bail, the Pretrial Fairness Act, and future steps.
#EndMoneyBail
Co-hosted by: Wayman AME Church Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington Normal Bloomington-Normal Chapter of NAACP Bloomington-Normal League of Women Voters Coalition to End Money Bond Black Lives Matter Bloomington-Normal Bloomington-Normal Democratic Socialists of America YWCA McLean County Not In Our Town Bloomington-Normal
Those wishing to sign up for ‘Decarcerate BloNo’ can email decarcerateblono@gmail.com. We’ve also got our next meeting for local folks like us to build connections, learn more about the implementation of the PFA, and determine our next steps for supporting our community until cash bail ends in 2023. Join us on Thursday, February 18, 6:30 – 7:30 pm. Register here.
If you’d like to stay updated on and get involved in our work, sign up.
For more on police reform see here. For more on the Pretrial Fairness Act, see here.
Anyone interested in learning more about the Pretrial Fairness Act or how to join the fight to end money bail, should check out this Virtual Townhall scheduled for Saturday, January 16th, 2021. The virtual town hall will inform our community on the progress being made to end wealth based pretrial detention.
Join us in learning more about pretrial detention, the Pretrial Fairness Act, and what you can do to help end the unjust practice of money bond in Illinois.
Prior registration is required for this event. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
I recently discovered that additional cases of COVID-19 in the McLean County Jail occurred back in late November. Since the story broke, there has been no announcements from the Sheriff’s office about whether there are any current cases, how often testing is occurring, and what’s being done to mitigate spread.
I am calling on the County Board to pass a resolution asking the Sheriff to report all COVID-19 cases in the jail promptly & accurately. This should be the bare minimum, but apparently it needs to be specified.
Because of the Illinois constitution, County Boards have very little actual authority over the Sheriff’s Office. This allows the Sheriff to operate with almost impunity. However, the board members have a duty to the tax-payers to be fiduciary shepherds for the jail; which they can’t do that if they don’t have the proper information. It’s time for them to prove they are concerned about a transparent & accountable government. While they cannot force the Sheriff to cooperate, a resolution requesting that information shows a clear message.
We should all be able to agree that transparency is key to effectively overcoming this pandemic. The people demand accurate and prompt information, especially regarding tax-payer funded liabilities like the jail. It is unfortunate the Sheriff has chosen to conceal & prevaricate on such an important issue.
Contact your county board members & ask them to pass a resolution seeking transparency & accountability at the jail. I encourage you to e-mail the County Administrator for public comments at both the McLean County Health Committee & Justice Committee.
Email public comment statements to County Administration at admin@mcleancountyil.gov. E-mailed Statements will be placed in the official minutes, even if the statement reads longer than the individual/group time limit (5 minutes for individuals or group spokesperson). All requests will be taken in the order in which they are received, and the total time allowed for public comment at Committee meetings per County Board rules is 30 minutes.
