Police Accountability - Lake County State's Attorney Candidate Questionnaire

As State’s Attorney, would you support the requirement for independent investigations not only in cases where a police officer kills a civilian, but also in cases where a police officer seriously injures a civilian, or stands accused of serious behavior outside their authority/scope of their duties including misconduct, repeated or excessive use of force or activity that violates the civil rights of civilians? Do you support the appointment of a special prosecutor for any case in which there may be a referral for possible prosecution?

COLE: AWAITING CANDIDATE'S RESPONSE

What additional steps will you take as State’s Attorney to enhance police accountability and build much-needed trust between the police and the public they serve?

COLE: AWAITING CANDIDATE'S RESPONSE

As State’s Attorney, would you support the requirement for independent investigations not only in cases where a police officer kills a civilian, but also in cases where a police officer seriously injures a civilian, or stands accused of serious behavior outside their authority/scope of their duties including misconduct, repeated or excessive use of force or activity that violates the civil rights of civilians? Do you support the appointment of a special prosecutor for any case in which there may be a referral for possible prosecution?

RINEHART: I have brought one of the few murder cases against a police officer outside of Chicago – according to the Illinois State Police and a search of media reports. At the same time, I also charged that same officer with attacking a civilian from a different incident. In People v. Dante Salinas we have charged a Waukegan Police Officer with Second Degree Murder for shooting into a car that was driving away from him. Fourteen months before the fatal incident. Officer Salinas pistol whipped a Latino man named Angel Salgado. Salgado received a broken eye socket. Not only did my predecessor fail to investigate Salinas, but he also forced Salgado into a resisting arrest conviction. Upon becoming State’s Attorney, I vacated the Salgado’ resisting arrest conviction and indicted Salinas for Aggravated Battery.

We should have special prosecutors in case a Sheriff’s Deputy is implicated in criminal activity since the State’s Attorney always represents the Sheriff as an institutional client. (I started this policy upon taking office.) I have referred out at least one officer-involved shooting to prevent the appearance of a conflict of interest since one of the shooters is married to an ASA.

I would most likely support such a rule from a legislative perspective for both injuries and deaths caused by police officers. My hesitancy does not come from any loyalty to bad police officers. But, to be honest, I have been willing to bring charges against police in a variety of contexts, and I worry that Special Prosecutors will not have the same energetic prosecutions as local offices. I just wish local offices would do the right thing – and that we would expect the same of our local prosecutors.

What additional steps will you take as State’s Attorney to enhance police accountability and build much-needed trust between the police and the public they serve?

RINEHART: As I have discussed, an energetic BRADY Policy is very important as well as training police leaders about BRADY and its requirements. I have also instituted a policy where prosecutors must write memos when they observe or a judge finds that there was a constitutional violation.

Most recently in January 2024, my First Assistant met with a police chief over two reports we received of a single officer conducting questionable searches. We dismissed both criminal cases and are working on additional training for that Department. Each year, the State’s Attorney of every county should write a letter that describes the number and types of constitutional violations that occurred in the preceding year. While I have had many conversations with police chiefs about specific officers, I still need to send formal letters. This will be a good goal for 2024, 2025, and beyond.

I am very proud to have supported the accountability measures in the SAFE-T Act and to be one of the few State’s Attorneys to have done so. As a candidate in 2020, I called for expanded use of body cameras.

We also conduct Fourth Amendment Trainings every year for police officers as well as interrogation trainings. In 2021 and 2022, we added additional training after Senator Robert Peters’ reform that banned deception in juvenile interrogations. I supported that change (even in the face of local police opposition), and I am proud to support his new reform of requiring a lawyer for all juvenile interrogations. After the Martel Williams case in Waukegan in 2022, we internally committed to not using juvenile interrogations taken without a parent or lawyer in trials going forward – regardless of when the offense occurred.