Illinois State Police

The Illinois State Police (ISP) is the state police force of Illinois. Officially established in 1922, the Illinois State Police have over 3,000 personnel and 21 districts. The main facilities of the Illinois State Police Academy, which was constructed in 1968, are located in Springfield. Prior to 1968, training was conducted at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. ISP also maintains the Illinois sex offender registry and administers the state's AMBER Alert program. The Illinois State Police is also responsible for driving and physically protecting the Governor of Illinois. In 2005, officers and duties of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services Police were merged into the Illinois State Police. As of 2008, Larry Trent was the Director of the Illinois State Police, appointed by Governor Rod Blagojevich in 2003.

Traffic Enforcement
Illinois State Police currently use various methods for speed limit enforcement on Illinois Highways. Hand-held and moving RADAR, LIDAR, pacing and time-distance measurement. In addition, The IL State Police has typical marked units (Crown Victorias, Impalas, and Chargers) as well as unmarked units of vehicles ranging from Crown Victorias to Grand Prix GTPs to LS-1 powered Z28s to Mustang GTs. The Mustangs, Camaros, and other vehicles are for a program created to combat aggressive driving and speeding.

Since 1986, the Illinois State Police has patrolled Chicago Expressways. Illinois also announced in February 2006, that photo radar mounted in vans would be used for speed enforcement in construction zones statewide. Though the vans are manned by State Police troopers, a private company, ACS State and Local Solutions, provides the vans for a fee and receives a bonus of $15 per ticket issued.

A Motorcycle Enforcement Bureau (MEB) was created in 2006 consisting of 41 officers in six squads dispersed throughout the state. 50 Harley-Davidson FLHTPI Electra Glide's were leased for this use by the MEB.

Traffic Operations for D11 could be heard on 155.460 Mhz as of 10/27/08

Aircraft
The Illinois State Police have six aircraft used for law enforcement throughout the state, one Cessna 421C and five Cessna 182. They are stationed at four airports, Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport, DuPage Airport, MidAmerica St. Louis Airport and Whiteside County Airport. ISP has used aircraft for speed enforcement, using stop watch time measurement, since 1959. According to the FAA, aircraft registered to ISP include, a Cessna 182R, a Cessna 182S, a Cessna 182S, a Cessna 182S, a Cessna 182S, a Cessna 421C and a 1953 Bell H13G.

Illinois State Police Merit Board
The Illinois State Police Merit Board administers the certification of the appointment and promotion of state police officers as well as their discipline, removal, demotion and suspension. The merit board consists of five civilian members who are appointed by the governor with the advise and consent of the state senate. Each member serves for a term of six years and no more than three may be affiliated with the same political party.

Organization
As of 2006, the Illinois State Police is organized into several divisions:


 * Operations - performs all of the functions of highway safety and criminal investigation, traffic enforcement is one of the more visible aspects of the operations department.
 * Forensic Services - provides the state with specialty crime scene services including DNA and fingerprint identification as well as computerized ballistics matching.
 * Administration - includes facility administration, communication services and logistics functions that are vital to ISP.
 * Information and Technology Command
 * Internal investigations - performs a similar function as other internal affairs divisions as well as investigation of wrong doing in other agencies in the Illinois executive branch.

Contact Information
801 South Seventh Street Springfield IL 62794-9461 Phone: (217) 782-7263