By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Republican Illinois attorney general candidate Bob Fioretti said Friday he would overhaul the state’s SAFE-T Act on his first day in office if elected, four days before the Nov. 3 election.
Fioretti, in a live radio interview, said the 2021 criminal justice law prevents police from detaining suspects who threaten officers while already on pretrial release. “Day one, that whole philosophy will change,” Fioretti said.
Fioretti pointed to a case reported by CWB Chicago in which a man was arrested on suspicion of threatening to shoot a police officer during a DUI stop while already on pretrial release for the same conduct in a 2023 case. “You can hit a police officer and you can’t detain him under the Safety Act,” Fioretti said.
Fioretti also cited crime data, saying about 1,600 people have been shot and the city has recorded about 375 homicides this year. “I don’t hear Kwame Raoul saying anything about them,” Fioretti said, referring to the Democratic incumbent attorney general he is seeking to replace.
Fioretti said he has campaigned in all 102 Illinois counties ahead of Tuesday’s election and pointed to support from Chicago police rank-and-file officers and suburban police chiefs. He said a Republican candidate needs roughly 30 percent of the Cook County vote to be competitive in a statewide Illinois race.
Fioretti, a South Side Chicago native, served as 2nd Ward alderman from 2007 to 2015 and has worked as a civil rights attorney for more than three decades, including as a senior supervising attorney in the city’s law department under Mayor Harold Washington. He has also served as a special assistant attorney general and special assistant state’s attorney for Illinois.
The SAFE-T Act eliminated cash bail in Illinois and set new standards for pretrial detention when it took effect in 2023. Supporters have said it reduces jail populations without increasing crime, while critics like Fioretti argue it limits judges’ ability to hold defendants accused of threatening officers or the public.
More information on Fioretti’s campaign is available at BobForIllinois.com. Raoul’s campaign did not provide a response to Fioretti’s comments as of Friday.
