OREGON — Sept. 18, 2024 marked one year since the elimination of cash bail statewide and in Ogle County due to the state’s SAFE-T criminal justice reform act. 

An individual’s wealth no longer plays a role in whether they are incarcerated while awaiting trial. Judges can still order someone to be detained as they await trial, but the new system is instead based on an offender’s level of risk of reoffending or fleeing prosecution. Illinois was the first state to fully eliminate cash bail. The SAFE-T Act also reformed police training, certification and use-of-force standards, expanded detainee rights, and gave the attorney general’s office authority to investigate alleged civil rights violations by law enforcement. It also required body cameras at all police departments by 2025. 

Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle spoke with the Ogle County Life and Rochelle News-Leader Sept. 18 and described his office’s experience over the past year navigating the changes in law enforcement, namely with the no cash bail piece. VanVickle, a past president of the Illinois Sheriff’s Association, was directly involved with the SAFE-T Act and testified against the original form of it in Springfield. He worked with legislators on trailer bills, three of which changed the legislation from its original form to what is seen today. 

“A lot of work went into it on both sides of the aisle to try to make it work,” VanVickle said. “While I'd say those things were done to make it work, I'd say the jury is still out on that. A lot of these court cases are still pending and there haven't been convictions. The true answers to how it's working aren't known yet.”

For arrests made over the past year, charges have been in either must-detain or non-detainable categories. Those in the must-detain category go to jail and usually within 48 hours on business days they'll appear in front of a judge for a detention hearing and the judge will make the ruling on whether they'll remain in jail or not. On non-detainable offenses, there’s 17 different questions that determine whether an individual can be detained or not.

VanVickle said the inability to detain those charged with crimes has been “far and away”  the biggest issue his office and deputies have dealt with in the past year. 

“It's the people that commit a crime multiple times while they're still pending trial and continue to be out and reoffend,” VanVickle said. “That's been our biggest headache and I think percentage-wise, every law enforcement agency across the state is probably in the same boat. That's by far the most frustrating piece to us, as well as the victims. Those are the things we have concerns about. The quality of life and inability to make the criminal behavior stop until there's court proceedings where the judge can do that. Those are our biggest struggles now, the repeat offenders.”

VanVickle said the detention hearing aspect was implemented differently by the judiciary and state supreme court than intended by the legislation, which he called a hurdle for law enforcement. It was originally believed that reoffenders could be held, but the supreme court changed that so unless the offense was a detainable offense, that didn't apply.

“It's been a year of learning and trying to just see how the system works,” VanVickle said. “Those have been the struggles for law enforcement. I think it’s been tough on law enforcement in general. There's an issue when the person who commits a felony is processed and out of the jail immediately before the deputy even gets done doing the paperwork. That definitely plays into the recruitment and retention piece for law enforcement. It's being able to do their job and impact their community the way all of our deputies want to and being a positive attribute, and not being able to do that has definitely been an issue.”

Numbers in the Ogle County Jail have been down to 30-32 inmates on average daily over the past year after previously averaging around 45 inmates before that. 

The new Ogle County Jail opened in early 2021. The 42,000 square-foot, 154-bed facility has seen less-than-anticipated use. VanVickle said contracts to house federal inmates to raise jail revenue returned over the summer and have helped with the county’s financial situation as it looks to cover bond payments on the new jail.

“Having less inmates has given us some latitude to help the federal government and house those inmates and it played into how we could get that contract, because we can separate different inmates,” VanVickle said. “That was a plus when we renewed that agreement with them. That's been one positive to having less regular inmates.”

VanVickle said another issue deputies have encountered in the past year is individuals charged with crimes not showing up to court regularly. Failure to appear warrants are not issued until after multiple no-show court dates, he said. VanVickle said that creates problems and budgetary constraints with deputies being paid overtime for court time. 

The county has also seen the financial impacts of cash bail’s end. 

“While we still collect bonds from cases that were completed prior to March 18, 2023, nothing going forward has resulted in any fees paid for by the offender,” VanVickle said. “Everything we do now is paid for by the taxpayers. We've not only seen the reduction in revenue, but we've also seen an increase in our transportation costs because all bonds are no-bond warrants. If they arrest someone on a no-bond Ogle County warrant, we have to go to that county, whether it's next door or at the southern tip of Illinois, and pick them up within five days. There's no ability for that person who gets picked up on an Ogle County warrant in southern Illinois to pay their bond and be released. We have to pick everybody up. Those are definitely unrealized expenses.”

VanVickle said the past year hasn’t yielded any surprises for him after being involved with the SAFE-T Act before cashless bail took effect. His concerns about repeat offenders and quality of life remain. 

“The change hasn't helped any of our taxpayers that are victims of crimes,” VanVickle said.  “It hasn't done them any justice and to me that's the biggest concern. The quality of life aspect has definitely changed. When you have repeat offenders getting out immediately and threatening the victims without immediate repercussions, that's concerning. I think as we move forward and more and more people experience that, I think there will be more discussions to be had.”