ILL SEC STATE POLICE

The Illinois Secretary of State Police force is not the same organization as the State Police, or even a part of it. In fact, the Secretary of State Police department is the oldest policing division in the state of Illinois, and it is one of the more unique policing organizations in the United States. The Secretary of State Police Command Center is in Springfield, Illinois, and five district headquarters are spread throughout the state. With only 130 investigators, as the officers are called, the unit's primary concerns are auto theft investigation and auto industry regulation. The small, low-profile force was the first of its kind to regulate the auto industry in the world and continues to be successful today.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, the invention of the automobile greatly affected American culture. A boom in auto sales resulted in the proliferation of cars across the nation. As the number of cars increased, the number of car-related crimes increased. In 1913, the Department of Police undertook the task of investigating automobile and motorcycle thefts. This group of "Special Representatives" eventually broke from the Department of Police to form its own department under the Secretary of State (History, 2003, 1).

The Secretary of State Police department was officially formed in 1919, in response to the rising number of automobiles in the state. It was difficult to t

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cal. The decal is placed on the rear window of the driver's automobile. Police will automatically pull over any automobile with the sticker driving between 1:00 and 5:00 a.m., with the intention of recovering stolen vehicles. "'B.A.T. is of greatest use to people who do not normally drive in those early morning hours,' said police spokesman Dan Ferrelli" (Dardick, 1998, 1). The program allows for "rolling checkpoints" during peak hours for auto theft. Another major concern of the Illinois Secretary of State Police is the use of fraudulent identification, specifically minors, in the attempt to purchase alcohol. As a result, they have formed an educational program called "Operation Straight ID". The program trains employees of alcohol selling businesses to identify fraudulent driver's licenses and identification cards. Each year the program sponsors 200 classes, training 4,500 people. Apparently, it seems that this program has demonstrated a substantial amount of success, "This program has been a significant deterrent to the sale of alcohol to underage individuals throughout the State" (Anonymous, 2003, 1). A key tool of Operation Straight ID is the ID Logix system, an age verification software program. It reads the elect

Category: Government - I