The Republican in a Downstate race for a new congressional district has picked up the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police of Illinois.
“In order to protect and serve our communities, law enforcement needs strong support from our elected officials,” Regan Deering of Decatur said Tuesday. “The ‘defund the police’ movement and policies supported by my opponent (Nikki Budzinski, a Springfield Democrat) have helped hollow out police departments across the state, and officers are leaving the profession in record numbers.
“Our law enforcement is working overtime, being away from their families to protect ours.”
The issues Deering mentions contribute to an environment in which police work, to some, is unrewarding. Asked how stories of police misconduct – such as Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin holding his knee to George Floyd’s neck – erode the nation’s collective respect for police, FOP Illinois president Chris Southwood said, that wasn’t in Illinois.
Another police union, the Police Benevolent and Protective Association, is backing Budzinski.