Rockford Sun

In an Oct. 1 Facebook post, Rep. Dave Severin called for the repeal of the SAFE-T Act. Dave Severin was initially voted into the Illinois House in 2017. A Republican, his legislative experience includes serving on the Judiciary - Criminal and Mental Health & Addiction. Severin is a state representative who resides in Benton, according to the Illinois House.

"The fact that some Dems and Media are critical of a Governor warning looters tells us how far we have fallen," Severin said. "These Looters are the lowest of criminals taking advantage of families in a crisis like this. They should be arrested and given the longest sentence possible to send a message. Sadly, under the new Illinois SAFE-T Act looters like this cannot be jailed. This does not end well for Illinois unless we can repeal their bill."

Severin believes that experts are opposed to the bill.

"If we want to ensure every neighborhood across Illinois is a safe place to live then we cannot ignore warnings from law enforcement officials and public safety experts," Severin stated.

Severin utilized the one-year anniversary of the bill's passing to speak out against it on social media. 

"Today is the one-year anniversary of House Democrats passing sweeping legislation to defund, disarm, and disrespect our police," Severin said in a statement on Facebook. "House Democrats voted yes, House Republicans voted NO. Violent crime is up, police retirements are increasing, and our communities are less safe. House Republicans are sponsoring legislation that would repeal the so-called ‘SAFE-T Act.' Support HR 598 - Repeal the SAFE-T Act now!"

In January Severin came short of supporting repeal and instead proposed legislation that would make changes to the SAFE-T Act.

"The corrections range from misspellings to changing effective dates of some provisions of the law," Severin said. "I voted NO on the original anti-police bill and I voted no on the latest attempt to put a band-aid on it. The overall concept of hampering our police’s ability to do their job is bad and the overall bill was terrible. I am firmly pro-police and pro public-safety. We have to do more to protect our communities and businesses in the face of rising crime. Criminals need to know Illinois is serious about punishing perpetrators of violent crime. We can and must do better!"