WESTFIELD, Ill. – A police department in Illinois is disbanding and the state’s law enforcement reforms are a contributing factor, the agency said in its announcement.
The Westfield Police Department is permanently closing its doors. The announcement was made on the department’s Facebook page last week. The post said the decision came from the village’s board of trustees, FOX Illinois reported.
The department cites the state’s new Criminal Justice Reform Bill as one of the many reasons they are disbanding.
“With many of the newly termed ‘police reform bills’ passed by the State of Illinois it has and will become increasingly more difficult to operate an already financially strained police department at the standards our Village residents deserve,” the now defunct agency said on Facebook.
Those strains had already caused many officers to resign from the agency, according to WTHI-TV.
“At the same time these decisions were being made officers who worked at the department were also making tough decisions which ultimately ended in resignations from the police department. These resignations were also primarily due to the newly termed ‘police reform bills’ enacted by the State Legislature with such ambiguous questions as to personal liability while lawfully protecting the citizens of Westfield,” they wrote.
It was unclear how many officers worked at the police agency.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office will serve the law enforcement needs for the Village of Westfield.
“When it comes to crime and things of that nature,” Sheriff Bill Brown said, “the Clark County Sheriff’s Office is going to be there to take care of the Village of Westfield; just like the citizens throughout the whole county.”
