The Chicago Police Department serves as the local law enforcement agency for the city of Chicago, Illinois. The CPD is one of the largest local law enforcement agencies in the entire United States, second only to the New York City Police Department with some 12.3 thousand sworn officers and nearly 2 thousand civilian employees. Their mission, from their website at chicagopolice.org, is
In Illinois, pursuant to the Compiled Statutes of the State 730 ILCS, all local law enforcement agencies are legally mandated to establish and maintain a statewide database of sex offenders that can be accessed by members of the community over the internet. In accordance with this law, the Illinois State Police maintains a central repository of information on all people who have been convicted of sexual offenses as well as well as crimes against children.
Currently the Illinois Department of Corrections oversees the functioning of 29 incarceration facilities across the state which house over 44,000 inmates. The scope of the department’s authority is not just restricted to adult correctional centers but also goes into the territory of juvenile justice; the state DOC also manages special institutions and juvenile justice centers. Together, these different correctional establishments hold over 75,000 prisoners.
An Illinois outstanding warrant refers to a court issued arrest order that is held back in the national criminal records system because for some reason it could not be served. There can be several factors that can impact the amount of time that it takes a law enforcement agency to make an arrest following the issue of a warrant. For instance, if an investigation follows after the warrant has been handed over to the police, the suspect may get enough time to leave the county.
There are scores of reasons why you might want to look up an inmate in the Illinois Prison System. You may be related to an individual who is serving time in an incarceration facility in the state or may have been the victim who suffered at the hands of a criminal serving time in an Illinois penitentiary. Either way, the Department of Corrections offers a simple tool for people interested in conducting an inmate search.
The Freedom of Information Act of the state of Illinois which is modeled after the federal FOIA provides a framework for the dissemination of information held by government agencies to members of the public. The Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Law together form the Illinois Freedom of Information Act that confers on all state residents the right to request all public records.
There are scores of options available to seek criminal and court records in the state of Illinois. While the local sheriff’s office, the state police department and the county clerk’s office are all legally bound to offer information on public records, going through the right source will not only get you in depth details but also you will get your hands on the information faster.
The Attorney General of the Illinois is a member of the state executive branch and as such is an elected representative of the people. The agency works as the legal arm of the government and assists all state agencies in matters that hold the interest of the government. The attorney general’s office is also entrusted with the task of fighting litigations on behalf of state employees who have been sued for performing tasks that were within the bounds of their official duties.
The Illinois Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations oversees the working of correctional facilities that are used as incarceration centers as well as establishments that serve as rehabilitative work facilities which play an integral role in the smooth transition of an offender from the prison system into the society. In all, the Illinois DOC maintains 27 correctional facilities along with numerous boot and work camps, transition centers and reception and classification facilities.
Illinois Criminal procedure is a set of laws that dictate how a person who has committed a crime in the state be processed through the justice system. The Illinois Compiled Statute 725 includes 7 titles each with several articles that prescribe the procedure for the arrest of the offender, the issue of an arrest order that may be required to bring the perpetrator to books , release on bail, trial, verdict and sentencing.
Formed in 1973, the Illinois Crime Justice Information Authority was introduced when new information system standards were developed and implemented by its predecessor, the Criminal Justice Information System Division, a branch of the Illinois State Law Enforcement Commission.Apart from information system standards, the CJIS also implemented an inmate tracking system and was instrumental in the installation of two grant accounting systems in the computer network of the Illinois state government.
The state of Illinois has a three tiered judicial system that includes a supreme court, appellate courts and circuit tribunals. The framework of the system is laid down by the Illinois Constitution Article VI; while all courts work under a unified approach, the authority granted to the tribunals on various levels differs significantly.
Active arrest warrants are issued in the state of Illinois in response to a writ filed in any county or state court that hears criminal matters. The written complaint has to be made by a member of the law enforcement agency or by the victim of the crime. For procuring an active arrest warrant, all matters pertaining to the case have to be presented before the magistrate, so that probable cause can be established.
Although there has been an improvement of almost 30% in the rates of overall and violent crime in Illinois over the decade that started in 1999 and ended in 2009, when compared to the national incident rates, the crime scenario in the state still appears quite grim. In fact, on the property and violent crime scales, Illinois often scored higher than the national average and even when the figures were tipped in the state’s favor, the difference between the national numbers and the state averages was dismal at best.