State Senator Jacqueline Collins joined State Senator Patricia Van Pelt, State Senator Mattie Hunter and State Representative LaShawn K. Ford today to speak about the need to reform the Chicago Police Department’s gang member database in light of recent reports by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune highlighting major concerns in how the data set is built, maintained and used. Senator Van Pelt is sponsoring Senate Bill 275 to address these issues. Senator Collins is chief co-sponsor. The following were her remarks to members of the press in Springfield earlier today.

I am Senator Jacqueline Collins, and I stand in support of Senator Van Pelt’s bill today because it addresses the failings of what should be an important tool for keeping our neighborhoods safe. The data set we’re discussing today should be used to help police investigate gang activity and to inform them of possible associations and affiliations. It could be a powerful tool to study gang-related violence. Yet, its use has raised major concerns over how it is built and how it is being used.

We have investigative reporters to thank for recent revelations that have found the data available to be out of date and raised troubling questions about the methods police use to add an individual to the list. Their reports reveal that there are alleged gang members in this database who have celebrated their one hundred and eighteenth birthday, or who are guilty of nothing more than being of a certain race and living in a certain neighborhood. Charges against someone with a name in the database are more severe, and there is currently no process to petition for the removal of one’s name.

We need only look to California – another state with significant gang activity – to see a system which is audited more closely and which informs individuals when their names have been added and allows them the chance to appeal. That is how a system crafted under our Constitution should look. We want to ensure police have the tools they need to fight crime. But a poorly-kept database with little oversight is a blunt and ineffective tool that opens the door for civil rights abuses. We must pass this legislation and make this process worthy of our justice system.

SPRINGFIELD – Secretary of State Jesse White has announced more than $15 million in funding to libraries statewide through Illinois Public Library Per Capita, including libraries in the 16th Senate District.

“Libraries are a public investment in enrichment and opportunity for all,” said State Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago). “Grants like these help our libraries continue to provide everything from reading programs for young people to assistance for job seekers in our communities.”

Per Capita grants like the ones awarded in the 16th District help fund library expenses such as materials, personnel, equipment, electronic access, telecommunications and technology.

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SPRINGFIELD – To continue pushing for equality and break down the social and economic barriers that continue to hold back women, State Senator Jacqueline Collins advanced a new measure that would focus state resources on researching and implementing policies to help women and girls in Illinois.

Senate Bill 3402 would create the Illinois Council on Women and Girls, a group that would advise the governor and the General Assembly on policy issues with a female focus. The council would be required to issue twice-yearly reports on its policy recommendations by June 30 and Dec. 31 of each year. The Senate State Government Committee approved the measure Wednesday.

“The Illinois Council on Women and Girls would focus on finding those areas of systemic disadvantage or bias in our policies and seek realistic ways of reforming them,” Collins said. “I urge my colleagues in the Senate to take this step toward knocking down the barriers that stand in the way of our sisters and daughters.”

State Senator Jacqueline Collins delivered the following remarks Wednesday, March 14 alongside members of the Illinois Senate during a 20-minute walkout that coincided with student walkouts throughout the country to call for action on gun violence.State Senator Jacqueline Collins delivered the following remarks Wednesday, March 14 alongside members of the Illinois Senate during a 20-minute walkout that coincided with student walkouts throughout the country to call for action on gun violence.

I speak now because I respectfully requested that my colleague Senator Bush allot an additional three minutes to today’s action. I want to speak about who they symbolize.

Young people throughout the country raise their voices today to demand the protection they are due in a society that values life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It would be remiss of us today not to remember that the epidemic of gun violence recently took the life of one sworn protector, Police Commander Paul Bauer, who died in the line of duty in Chicago. He is just one of hundreds to lose his life to gun violence over the past year.Let us take three minutes of silence: One to honor Commander Bauer and two more to honor all victims of gun violence in Illinois.

We call gun violence an epidemic for a good reason – because guns and bullets do not care about race, religion, age, gender, or creed, whether you wear a school uniform or a police uniform. For that reason, we must stand united. Let us unite, and after today’s solidarity and reflection, let us raise our voices together.