When “Clean Slate” Becomes a Blindfold; New Concerns from Inside Illinois’ Criminal Justice System By Chief Tom Weitzel (Ret.), Fellow of Law Enforcement at Awake Illinois I previously wrote about the Clean Slate Act published at Awake Illinois. Since then, new information has emerged from prosecutors, circuit clerks, law enforcement professionals, and court personnel working inside Illinois’ criminal justice system. The picture is not encouraging. The Clean Slate Act, in its current form, is...

A Preventable Killing: Illinois Leaders Ignored Every Warning Until an Officer Paid With His Life How a Broken Law, a Failed System, and Years of Political Cowardice Directly Caused the Murder of Officer John Bartholomew By: Awake IL Law Enforcement Fellow Chief Tom Weitzel (Ret.) I have spent nearly four decades in law enforcement. I have witnessed tragedy and failure. But nothing has been as infuriating, as preventable, or as systemically reckless as what happened at Swedish Hospital. A...

Open Letter to Illinois Law Enforcement Leaders from Chief Tom Weitzel, Riverside Police Department (Retired), Fellow of Law Enforcement at Awake Illinois May 15, 2026 To my Illinois law enforcement colleagues, This is our moment. It is time for us to lead with the clarity, courage, and conviction that our communities desperately need — and that we were born to deliver. For years, we had elected officials who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us, fought for our training, equipment, staffing,...