Welch-Backed Law Brings Together Justice Reformers, Law Enforcement to Improve Police Hiring Standards

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Law enforcement agencies will be better equipped to vet potential officers and make independent, merit-based employment decisions under a new law backed by Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch and House Democrats, improving police hiring practices following the recent killing of an innocent woman in the Springfield area by an officer with a serious record of misconduct.

“When Sonya Massey called law enforcement for help, she deserved protection. Instead, an officer who never should have been given a badge and a gun took that most basic right from her, and took her life,” Welch said. “The Massey family found the strength to demand that her memory be a catalyst for change. The Sonya Massey Act is part of the change we need to rebuild trust and to build a system that protects everyone.”

The new law delivers major reforms to police hiring practices in response to the murder of Sonya Massey, a Springfield-area resident shot and killed in her home by a Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy with a record of misconduct and criminal actions that should have disqualified him from service had the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office reviewed his personnel files from other law enforcement agencies.

Working with law enforcement officials and criminal justice reformers, Welch and House Democrats led an effort to pass Senate Bill 1953, also known as the Sonya Massey Act. The new law cuts red tape to ensure departments can review a prospective officer's full personnel files from other law enforcement agencies — making performance evaluations, fitness records, and any findings of abuse or criminal wrongdoing known in the hiring process.

Additionally, the law takes additional steps to ensure county sheriffs’ offices adhere to independent, merit-based employment standards. Hiring and promotion decisions for sheriff's departments in large counties will be required to go through a merit commission, and voters in smaller counties will be empowered to implement similar commissions in their jurisdictions.

The bipartisan measure passed with the support of the Illinois Sheriffs Association, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Illinois National Organization of Women. The Massey family and the members of the Springfield-area Sonya Massey Commission were also instrumental in the development of this new law. The measure was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday.