Metro East Sun

State Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) was looking to set the record straight on the state’s rising violent crime rate at a Republican Senate Caucus press conference.

"I'm here to give perspective as someone who worked for 20-plus years in the Department of Corrections, because the narrative now that I'm hearing in Springfield and around the state is that we just have a bunch of individuals who are wrongly accused and locked up,” Bryant said in a video posted to YouTube. “That is just not the case. When you work in an institution on a daily basis, you look into the eyes of individuals who exude pure evil. It becomes very hard to understand why we aren't prosecuting or why we release them early.”

Republican lawmakers are pointing to the Fund The Police Act proposed by state Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Champaign) as the answer. The measure seeks to address the problem by “getting more boots on the ground to fight violent crime, funding police training, incentivizing the hiring and retention of police officers, helping to offset local governments’ police overtime costs and helping to tackle mental health issues.”

Rose’s plan also seeks to create a $100 million fund for the the Illinois Law Enforcement Training & Standards Board who would make grants available to local governments and universities to hire police officers and purchase equipment designed to prevent gang violence.

“Legislative leaders found time to ram through multiple controversial bills this year that do nothing to keep people safe,” Rose said in a post to his website. “Meanwhile people are literally dying in the streets, school buses are getting shot at, and families are afraid to go outside. It’s well past time for the state to do something.”

The measure also mandates that a defendant who commits aggravated battery to a police officer serve at least 85% of their sentence and denies bail for previously convicted gun offenders or a felon charged with a gun offense.

Bryant has also recently taken center stage in the debate over repeal efforts tied to the Parental Notice of Abortion Act (PNA) of 1995.

"Parental notification is in place because adolescents are not mentally or emotionally prepared to fully grasp or understand the consequences of these actions," Bryant said during a recent news conference about the law that now requires parents or guardians be notified at least 48-hours in advance when their minor daughter or dependent seeks an abortion. "I urge my Democrat colleagues not to take away a child's parental foundation at a time when a child may need their parent the most."

Bryant said repealing the notification law would not be beneficial to minors seeking an abortion.

"It will only leave young girls with mental health issues that could last a lifetime if they don't receive proper support and care that they need," he said. "We must take a stand to protect parental rights and safeguard the system in place already that allows a parent to be there for their child at an unimaginably vulnerable time."