Article Summary
- Police departments will be required to request detailed background history from past employers, who will be mandated to provide it.
- The measure signed by Gov. JB Pritzker is in honor of Sonya Massey, a woman shot to death in her kitchen by a Sangamon County deputy in July 2024.
- The deputy accused of murdering Massey pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to stand trial in October.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
SPRINGFIELD – Police agencies in Illinois will soon be required to do more thorough background checks on prospective officers.
The measure signed by Gov. JB Pritzker Tuesday came in response to the July 2024 shooting death of Sonya Massey in Sangamon County by a sheriff’s deputy. Massey had called police to report a prowler and was in her home when she was shot to death by Deputy Sean Grayson while removing a pot of boiling water from the stove, with permission.
The signing came at the governor’s Capitol office, where he was flanked by members of Massey’s family, including daughter Jeanette “Summer” Massey, son Malachi Hill-Massey and mom Donna Massey, among others.
“I just want to say I miss my mom every day – like every day. And it hurts that she’s not here with me,” Massey’s son, Hill-Massey said at a news conference. “But I am very happy that we could also get a bill put in her name and her name could live on for forever.”
The shooting
Body camera video of Massey’s shooting showed Grayson moving toward Massey and threatening to shoot her in the face after she said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” She was holding the pot of water after deputies gave her permission to move it.
Shortly after the shooting, the video showed an officer asking Grayson if he was ok.
“Yeah, I’m ok. This f—ing b—h is crazy,” he responded. He told other officers at the scene, “She set it up on purpose, so it is what it is,” later adding he “didn’t have a choice.”
Grayson was fired from the sheriff’s office after the shooting. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges and is scheduled for trial in Peoria in October.
Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, sponsored Senate Bill 1953, which requires the hiring department to obtain and review a person’s extensive background before making a job offer.
Turner said she’s a neighbor of the Massey family and Sonya visited her home a week before she was killed. Sponsoring the bill was the “least political thing” she’s done in her 25 years of elected office, she said.
“With Gov. Pritzker’s signature on this legislation today, I feel confident that going forward and over time, our communities and law enforcement will have built a trusting relationship, and I will have kept my promise to my childhood friends and Sonya’s mother,” Turner said.
Grayson’s record
Grayson’s employment record came under scrutiny after the shooting, including that he had worked for six departments in four years and had two convictions for driving under the influence.
Capitol News Illinois reporting at the time revealed that Grayson had a history of reprimands and disobeying superiors at departments that previously employed him.
Grayson’s file from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office showed he continued a high-speed pursuit of a traffic offender even after his supervisor ordered him to terminate it, a woman filed a complaint claiming Grayson tried to watch as she was strip searched, and her fiancé, who was in Logan County jail, claimed Grayson questioned him in front of other inmates as retaliation for his girlfriend’s complaint.
He was not fired from the department. Internal investigations were closed when he resigned in April 2023 before starting at Sangamon County in May 2023.
It’s unclear whether Sangamon County obtained full personnel records from Grayson’s former employers or interviewed his superiors prior to hiring him.
“I believe that Senate Bill 1953 goes a long way to prevent individuals with backgrounds such as Sean Grayson from ever becoming associated with law enforcement,” Turner said.
The new law
Under the new law, a police department or sheriff’s office making a hire would be required to request employment personnel files from the applicant’s previous employers, including other law enforcement agencies. The previous employer would be required to share the information within 14 days.
Law enforcement applicants would be required to sign a document authorizing the release of information, including military service records, police discipline databases, employment and criminal history, driving records, academic credentials, a credit check, and more.
Information provided is to be unredacted, except for data such as financial information and social security numbers. If the former employer denies a request, the prospective employer may ask a court to intervene and could be reimbursed for associated fees and costs.
The law specifically states that if an existing collective bargaining agreement conflicts with the law, the law will not supersede it. But once the law takes effect, no expiring collective bargaining agreement can be extended in a form that contradicts the law.
It also exempts any information if a state’s attorney in the county where the applicant was previously employed provides a written directive stating the previous employer is not legally authorized to provide it.
The measure takes effect Jan. 1, 2026. It passed 101-12 in the House and 56-0 in the Senate.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
