SPRINGFIELD — After an Illinois woman had a negative experience with police when filing her sexual assault report, State Senator Mary Edly-Allen worked alongside her to create Anna’s Law, or Senate Bill 1195, to address a lack of trauma-informed response training within the state.

“No one should be subjected to being re-traumatized and invalidated in any situation,” said Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville). “After working with the Illinois State Police, Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board and the Illinois Chiefs of Police I am hopeful that this will greatly improve the current training practices in place.”

Under Senate Bill 1195, police would be required to be trained on how to identify conflicts of interest between officers who may be familiar with victims or those accused of a crime and the options that are available to them on how to address it.

Additionally, the bill aims to minimize the traumatization of the survivor by providing programs, procedures and practices that are trauma-informed within police training.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to police, with rape being the most underreported. This underreporting is often due to fear of retaliation and a belief that police would not help, which this bill aims to address.

“Survivors of sexual assault deserve a law enforcement system that treats their cases with the utmost respect and impartiality,” said Edly-Allen.

Senate Bill 1195 passed the Senate Criminal Law Committee on Wednesday and heads to the full Senate for further action.