Pritzker suggests he’s open to tweaking SAFE-T Act after train passenger fire

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is suggesting he would be open to amending the state’s SAFE-T Act after a man with a long criminal history was charged with setting a Chicago train passenger on fire.

The incident happened last Monday evening on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Blue Line. The suspect in the case had 49 previous arrests. He was charged with committing a terrorist attack against a mass transportation system. The victim was hospitalized with critical injuries.

Pritzker spoke at an unrelated event in Skokie Friday and was asked if it was time to amend the SAFE-T Act and the provision which ended cash bail in Illinois.

“The SAFE-T Act is designed to give judges the ability to keep people in jail who they think are potentially dangerous for the community,” Pritzker said.

The governor defended signing the legislation to end cash bail.

“Bail is sort of an automatic out for people who just happen to have enough money and an automatic incarceration for somebody who happens not to have enough money,” Pritzker said.

A reporter told Pritzker that prosecutors reported problems with the law, saying it prevents dangerous people from being held.

“Sometimes bills get passed and everybody that votes for it knows that there needs to be a trailer bill or a tweak that needs to be made afterward, so I think everybody is open to listening to what changes might need to be made,” Pritzker said.

When asked if these types of incidents hurt the argument that crime is down in Chicago, Pritzker said President Donald Trump attacks the city and says it is dangerous.

“When he does that, any time there is a crime and especially one this horrific, it tends to get amplified because of his words,” Pritzker said.

The president called out cashless bail policies that started in Illinois when he delivered remarks to the White House Religious Liberty Commission in September.

“Cashless bail started a wave in our country where a killer kills somebody and is out on the street by the afternoon, in many cases going out and killing again,” Trump said.

Illinois Republicans have made repeated calls for the SAFE-T Act to be amended or repealed.