Democrat Push To License Cops Started By Republican 11 Years Ago

CHICAGO — A proposal to license Illinois cops like barbers and real estate agents quickly embraced by powerful Chicago Democrats was first pitched 11 years ago by a Republican.

In 2009, and again in 2011, former state Sen. Tim Bivins (R-Dixon) sponsored failed police officer licensing bills that he hoped would start a conversation about police reform in the state legislature. The former Lee County sheriff called licensing a “mechanism to stop rogue cops” accused of misconduct from jumping from one department to another.

Each legislative attempt had bipartisan support and backing from police chiefs and sheriffs from across the state before ultimately dying on the senate floor after facing objections from police unions, including Chicago Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7.

Last Monday, as protests of the police-involved death of George Floyd devolved into looting and vandalism across America, Bivins got a call from a former senate colleague he considers a pal, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

As a state senator, Raoul and Bivins worked to craft concealed carry gun legislation. In 2010, the Chicago Democrat signed on a chief co-sponsor of Bivins attempt to pass a cop licensing law.

“Kwame sent me a message, and we got talking about whether licensing was something that should be revisited,” Bivins said.

“We don’t always agree. He thinks he’s better looking than me, for one. But he’s reasonable. He listens. And we’ve always shared the same desire to promote police professionalism. I told him that whether it’s 2009 or 2020, it’s always a good time to start talking about this issue.”

Days later, Raoul announced plans to revive the controversial measure and quickly started courting law enforcement leaders to support giving the state authority to yank the license of an officer for committing serious misconduct separately from how a city doles out misconduct punishment under police union contracts.

Under current state law, a police officer can lose state certification after being convicted or pleading guilty to a felony, certain misdemeanors or is found to give false statements or testimony related to murder charges. It’s a high standard that’s rarely leads to decertification.

Bivins’s previous licensing bills would have given the Illinois Labor Relations Board the authority to revoke a police officer’s license after determining a cop “knowingly and willfully violated a rule or regulation” that is a firing offense. The bill established hearing procedures and other rules aimed at giving officers due process and protect them from being fired because a mayor, county president or top cop “wanted to get rid of a guy they don’t like,” Bivins said.

Raoul said his licensing plan would give the state a tool that would prohibit so-called “bad apples” with a long history of sustained misconduct off the street and prevent them from policing in another jurisdiction in Illinois.

“What we’re talking about is having real consequences for officers who do something wrong, and not being limited to waiting to see if someone gets convicted before something can be done,” Raoul said.

Police licensing already has early support from Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor who led the city’s police accountability task force, which issued a report in 2016 calling for sweeping reforms.

At a Thursday news conference, Lightfoot — outraged over video showing 13 cops, including three supervisors, lounging and making popcorn in U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush’s looted campaign office — said the city law department plans to draft and push a police licensing bill in Springfield, along with other reform measures.

"It's way past [the] time for this change in our state," the mayor said. "And licensing is just one of several new measures that we must institute to make individual officers and departments far more accountable to the people."

Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police president James Black said law enforcement professionals "need to be open" to discussions about licensing police and universal standards for use of force. He's set to meet with Raoul next week to hear more details about provisions that will be included in a licensing bill.

"We need to be active listeners. There definitely needs to be change, and now more than ever residents and citizens are demanding more transparency and accountability from police,” said Black, suburban Crystal Lake's police chief. "If it's crafted and implemented properly, I think it’s something that could get passed.”

Powerful police union leaders are expected oppose measures that might be viewed as an end around to contract provisions that regulate how local police departments investigate and dole out punishment for misconduct allegations. Newly elected Chicago police union president John Catanzara is one of them. He didn't return a call seeking comment.

Despite his past failures, Bivins said he holds out hope that the conversation about police reform he hoped to start in Springfield as a rookie state senator finally leads to something that makes police departments statewide more professional.

"What happened in the past and what we do today doesn't mean the same thing will happen in the future if we come together and talk about this as something that can be for the betterment of law enforcement in our state."