Daniel Didech, left, and Chris Henning, candidates for the 59th District House seat
Public safety — and specifically the merits of the SAFE-T Act — was debated by the two candidates for the 59th District House seat during a recent endorsement interview in the Daily Herald.
The challenger, Mundelein Republican Chris Henning, an attorney specializing in commercial contracts and real estate law, said virtually all state’s attorneys opposed the act.
“People will claim that the SAFE-T Act has done its job. Yet within the last two weeks, it’s been reported that 20% of the felony arrests in the city of Chicago are people who are presently on pretrial release.”
He also said it has had a negative impact on the ability of police to do their jobs has resulted in a decline in arrest rates, while prosecution rates are down.
However, Daniel Didech, a Buffalo Grove Democrat who is seeking his fourth term in the House said his opponent’s “talking points are a little out of date.”
He said that when the bill was passed 100 out of 102 state’s attorneys opposed its initial passage.
But after a year of implementation, state’s attorneys, including many Republican prosecutors, have had a change of heart.
“It is working the way that it was designed to work,” he said. “What we have done is we switched from a cash-based system of pretrial detention to a safety-based system of pretrial detention.
Didech argued dangerous people were getting let out under the bail system because they could afford it, while people who were not a danger to the community and were accused of relatively minor crimes were kept locked up.
Henning replied, “What you’re seeing is a reduced number of arrests on large swaths of crime.”
“With the current SAFE-T Act, before any action can be taken, I believe, they still need to miss two or three court appearances. A lot of damage can be done in that intervening time,” he added, referring to a provision in the act allowing a second chance to appear in court if they miss a date.
Limited data in the year since the law was enacted shows higher percentages of defendants showing up for court hearings than in years before.
The 59th District includes all or part of Vernon Hills, Prairie View, Buffalo Grove, Indian Creek, Lincolnshire, Mundelein, Riverwoods, and Wheeling.
