University police officers are increasingly being called into dangerous situations, just like their city police counterparts. However, under current law, if they are disabled in the line of duty, their benefits are significantly less. State Senator Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) filed legislation to fix the discrepancy, which has now been passed by both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly.
“Bad guys don’t care what department a cop works for, and when an officer gets hurt, it shouldn’t matter either,” said Rose. “They should get the same benefits whether they work for university police or city police.”
Under current law, university police officers don’t get the same benefits if they get hurt in the line of duty as municipal officers. Municipal police who are disabled in the line of duty, are eligible for benefits based on 65% of their pay. Whereas university police are only eligible for 50% under the same situations.
Rose’s legislation, Senate Bill 1115, changes the benefits for the university police to match the same 65% as municipal police.
“Our brave men and women in blue need to know that we support them, and this is one small way that we can do that,” said Rose.
Rose’s legislation has now passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and awaits action by the Governor.