(The Center Square) – Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is drawing bipartisan criticism for a proposed policy change on traffic stops.
Foxx’s proposal would have prosecutors not pursue cases in which illegal guns or drugs were found during most traffic stops.
Several of Foxx’s fellow Chicago Democrats blasted the idea.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said, “The policy will keep illegal guns in the hands of criminal offenders, rather than getting them off the streets.”
South Side Republican Chairman Devin Jones said that what Foxx is doing is egregious.
“It’s always done under diversity, equity and inclusion, and the only thing that Black people end up being included in is more crime, more death, poverty and destruction,” Jones said.
Jones said Foxx should represent the people of Cook County and prosecute crimes against the public.
“If that’s not happening, we should not be paying you [Foxx] or any of your assistant prosecutors a salary,” Jones added.
With her proposal to deny charges for crimes discovered after traffic stops, Foxx cited a resolve to rectify racial disparities in the legal system.
Jones does not agree with the proposed policy.
“What the Cook County State’s Attorney, Kim Foxx, is doing is taking government overreaches that were happening and then turning it into some type of political ploy to just allow rampant crime and lawlessness,” Jones said. “It is harming Black citizens first and everyone else next.”
