Police officers and firefighters across Illinois are a big step closer to seeing part of their pensions change. The state’s major police unions late last week signed-on to a plan to consolidate Illinois’ 650 downstate and suburban police and fire pension funds into two, larger retirement systems. One would be for the police, the other would be for firefighters. Governor Pritzker says it’s one of his priorities to combine the retirement systems so local communities can get a better return on their investments. Lawmakers could approve the change this week.