Article Abstract
- Police departments will probably be required to request detailed background historical past from previous employers, who will probably be mandated to supply it.
- The measure signed by Gov. JB Pritzker is in honor of Sonya Massey, a girl shot to dying in her kitchen by a Sangamon County deputy in July 2024.
- The deputy accused of murdering Massey pleaded not responsible and is scheduled to face trial in October.
This abstract was written by the reporters and editors who labored on this story.
SPRINGFIELD – Police businesses in Illinois will quickly be required to do extra thorough background checks on potential officers.
The measure signed by Gov. JB Pritzker Tuesday got here in response to the July 2024 taking pictures dying of Sonya Massey in Sangamon County by a sheriff’s deputy. Massey had referred to as police to report a prowler and was in her dwelling when she was shot to dying by Deputy Sean Grayson whereas eradicating a pot of boiling water from the range, with permission.
The signing got here on the governor’s Capitol workplace, the place he was flanked by members of Massey’s household, together with daughter Jeanette “Summer time” Massey, son Malachi Hill-Massey and mother Donna Massey, amongst others.
“I simply need to say I miss my mother on daily basis – like on daily basis. And it hurts that she’s not right here with me,” Massey’s son, Hill-Massey stated at a information convention. “However I’m very glad that we might additionally get a invoice put in her title and her title might reside on for ceaselessly.”
The taking pictures
Body camera video of Massey’s taking pictures confirmed Grayson transferring towards Massey and threatening to shoot her within the face after she stated, “I rebuke you within the title of Jesus.” She was holding the pot of water after deputies gave her permission to maneuver it.
Shortly after the taking pictures, the video confirmed an officer asking Grayson if he was okay.
“Yeah, I’m okay. This f—ing b—h is loopy,” he responded. He instructed different officers on the scene, “She set it up on objective, so it’s what it’s,” later including he “didn’t have a alternative.”
Grayson was fired from the sheriff’s workplace after the taking pictures. He pleaded not responsible to first-degree homicide expenses and is scheduled for trial in Peoria in October.
Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, sponsored Senate Bill 1953, which requires the hiring division to acquire and overview an individual’s in depth background earlier than making a job provide.
Turner stated she’s a neighbor of the Massey household and Sonya visited her dwelling every week earlier than she was killed. Sponsoring the invoice was the “least political factor” she’s accomplished in her 25 years of elected workplace, she stated.
“With Gov. Pritzker’s signature on this laws at the moment, I really feel assured that going ahead and over time, our communities and regulation enforcement can have constructed a trusting relationship, and I’ll have stored my promise to my childhood pals and Sonya’s mom,” Turner stated.
Grayson’s report
Grayson’s employment record got here underneath scrutiny after the taking pictures, together with that he had labored for six departments in 4 years and had two convictions for driving underneath the affect.
Capitol Information Illinois reporting on the time revealed that Grayson had a historical past of reprimands and disobeying superiors at departments that beforehand employed him.
Grayson’s file from the Logan County Sheriff’s Workplace confirmed he continued a high-speed pursuit of a visitors offender even after his supervisor ordered him to terminate it, a girl filed a criticism claiming Grayson tried to observe as she was strip searched, and her fiancé, who was in Logan County jail, claimed Grayson questioned him in entrance of different inmates as retaliation for his girlfriend’s criticism.
He was not fired from the division. Inner investigations have been closed when he resigned in April 2023 earlier than beginning at Sangamon County in Might 2023.
It’s unclear whether or not Sangamon County obtained full personnel data from Grayson’s former employers or interviewed his superiors previous to hiring him.
“I imagine that Senate Invoice 1953 goes a protracted solution to forestall people with backgrounds similar to Sean Grayson from ever turning into related to regulation enforcement,” Turner stated.
The brand new regulation
Underneath the brand new regulation, a police division or sheriff’s workplace making a rent can be required to request employment personnel information from the applicant’s earlier employers, together with different regulation enforcement businesses. The earlier employer can be required to share the knowledge inside 14 days.
Legislation enforcement candidates can be required to signal a doc authorizing the discharge of knowledge, together with army service data, police self-discipline databases, employment and legal historical past, driving data, educational credentials, a credit score test, and extra.
Info supplied is to be unredacted, apart from knowledge similar to monetary data and social safety numbers. If the previous employer denies a request, the possible employer might ask a court docket to intervene and might be reimbursed for related charges and prices.
The regulation particularly states that if an current collective bargaining settlement conflicts with the regulation, the regulation is not going to supersede it. However as soon as the regulation takes impact, no expiring collective bargaining settlement could be prolonged in a type that contradicts the regulation.
It additionally exempts any data if a state’s lawyer within the county the place the applicant was beforehand employed supplies a written directive stating the earlier employer shouldn’t be legally licensed to supply it.
The measure takes impact Jan. 1, 2026. It handed 101-12 within the Home and 56-0 within the Senate.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan information service that distributes state authorities protection to a whole bunch of stories shops statewide. It’s funded primarily by the Illinois Press Basis and the Robert R. McCormick Basis.
