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"All across Illinois, we rely on the state police to keep us safe
and to respond quickly and reliably in times of emergency," said
Gov. Blagojevich. "These new cars will help our troopers do their
jobs better with top-notch equipment." More than $15 million was
made available through a capital appropriation to purchase the new
police cars. Police vehicles must be special ordered from the
manufacturer, and the first cars are expected in approximately two
months. After their delivery, the new cars are outfitted with
emergency lights, radios, video cameras and new computers, before
being issued to officers all across the state. Both Ford Crown
Victoria and Chevrolet Impala model vehicles will be ordered.
"We are grateful for the continued strong support of Governor
Blagojevich in this effort," said Illinois State Police Director
Larry Trent. "Providing our officers with these vehicles will allow
for the enhanced safety and protection of all of our citizens. The
deployment of these new squad cars means a safer state and better
services for all Illinoisans."
The Illinois State Police maintains a fleet of more than 2,300
vehicles in 21 districts all over the state. There are approximately
1,960 enforcement vehicles in the fleet. The new cars will be used
to replace older enforcement vehicles. Since fiscal 2001, the state
has purchased 99 new cars.
All of the Illinois State Police enforcement vehicles, including
the new cars that are being purchased, are equipped with video
cameras -- which are important tools to help to strengthen public
safety and promote accountability and trust between law enforcement
and the community it serves. The state police first equipped some
enforcement vehicles with video cameras in 1991 as a pilot program
and over the years have equipped all of their law enforcement
vehicles with video cameras. With the use of in-car video cameras,
officer indiscretions can immediately be verified or discredited.
This capability allows agencies to quickly rebut false claims
against officers or swiftly take sanctions against officers who step
out of line. State police have found that the use of video cameras
has the effect of increasing the public's understanding and trust of
law enforcement by allowing private citizens to imagine they are
riding along with the police.
Video cameras in squad cars during traffic stops can also be
powerful tools in helping to eliminate racial disparities by
providing a record of all patrol activity and traffic stops. The
report released in July 2005 on the first year of Illinois' racial
profiling study found that minorities are more likely to be pulled
over than whites for a traffic stop and 2 1/2 times as likely to
have their car searched when pulled over. The study involved
approximately a thousand police agencies statewide.
A 2002 study by the International Association of Chiefs of Police
looked at the effects of police in-car camera systems on state
police and highway agencies. The study reported an increase in
officer safety, a reduction in the number of citizen complaints
lodged against officers, officers conducting themselves more
professionally and an increase in the number of convictions and
guilty pleas prior to going to trial.
The new addition to the fleet will allow the state police to
build on their already strong record of protecting the public,
including:
The ISP Academy graduated two cadet classes in 2005, with a
total of 98 troopers reporting to Illinois State Police
districts throughout the state. Cadet Class 111 began training
Jan. 8 with 55 cadets.
Creation of meth response
teams: Illinois' six Methamphetamine Response Teams were
established in May 2005 and are dedicated to performing both
proactive and reactive methamphetamine investigations, providing
the focus needed to reduce the growing number of clandestine
drug laboratories. In just the first 5 1/2 months of existence,
the teams shut down an average of 17 meth labs per week while
making 535 meth-related arrests and seizing 73 firearms. They
also discovered 109 children who were exposed to the extremely
dangerous meth lab environment.
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Tracking down sex offenders:
As a part of the Illinois Sex Offender Registry Team, ISP has
helped to improve compliance with the registry, as well as the
accuracy of the information on file. Through coordination with
local, federal and other statewide entities, the team has taken
the percentage of unregistered sex offenders from 14 percent to
7.8 percent.
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Launching the Child Lures
prevention program: With the assistance of ISP and other
state agencies, Gov. Blagojevich launched the Child Lures
prevention program in every elementary and middle school in the
state in 2005. The program teaches parents and children life
skills to keep children safe from sexual abuse, date rape,
abduction, Internet crime, drugs and school violence.
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Improving AMBER Alert system:
The Illinois AMBER Alert Task Force, chaired by the Illinois
State Police, has developed a new website, www.amberillinois.org,
with funding from SBC. The website was created to assist with
information regarding the Illinois AMBER Alert program. Listed
on the website are the criteria that must be met, along with
information for law enforcement on how to activate an alert.
Active alerts are posted as well as statistical information
about past alerts. There are sections to assist parents, the
community and educators with preventive information to aid in
the protection of children from abduction, and there is an
interactive map that visitors can use to identify law
enforcement contacts by county to assist with child abduction
prevention.
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Human trafficking: In 2005,
ISP joined the Illinois Coalition to Rescue and Restore Victims
of Human Trafficking and is one of more than 650 organizations
across the nation that have committed to raising the awareness
of its workers and law enforcement officers about this issue and
helping victims. ISP has established a core committee to create
"Human Trafficking for the Law Enforcement Professional"
training curricula, which will be made available in early
2006 for any interested Illinois law enforcement agencies.
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Enforcing crime gun laws: The
ISP is spearheading an anti-gun-trafficking initiative through a
series of enforcement strategies, all of which share a singular
purpose: to reduce the availability of guns for use by the
criminal element. Leading the ISP's anti-crime gun initiative
are two full-time gun units located in areas most affected by
crime guns. The Des Plaines gun unit, known as the Firearms
Investigations Unit, has eight sworn personnel, and the southern
Illinois gun trafficking unit, known as the Metro East Gun
Squad, is staffed by seven officers. The ISP is also working
with other states to reduce the number of crime guns entering
Illinois via purchases made in those states. Criminal
intelligence data indicates many of Illinois' crime guns are
being illegally purchased in Indiana, Mississippi, Kentucky,
Alabama and Arkansas and transported back across state lines.
[News release from the governor's
office]
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