Rep. Tipsword today said he was disappointed, but not surprised, by remarks from Chicago Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson signaling his continuation of soft on crime policies that have resulted in a dramatic increase in crime in the city over the past few years.
“On Wednesday, the Mayor-Elect told us that he wanted to ‘show every community in Illinois that in our hearts we treasure the lives, the safety…of all Illinoisans’…but he then went on to make excuses for the violent gang of teens that rioted in the city last weekend, leading to two people being shot, many being injured, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage,” Rep. Tipsword said. “You can’t restore law and order by excusing criminals and preventing police from doing their jobs!”
Under the previous administration of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, progressive soft on crime policies enacted resulted in a 75% increase in total crime, according to Chicago Police statistics. Rep. Tipsword, the Chief Deputy with the Woodford County Sheriff’s Department, said restoring law and order depends upon changing course and holding criminals accountable.
“Numbers don’t lie. Crime has escalated in Chicago because police have been prevented from doing their jobs, and prosecutor Kim Foxx has refused to do her job.”
“A strong Illinois depends on a strong Chicago. I hope we can work with the new Mayor to convince him that his ‘defund the police’ involvement is misguided, and that soft on crime policies are dangerous for families in Chicago and throughout Illinois,” Rep. Tipsword concluded.