Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced legislation to improve the police certification and de-certification process as part of his ongoing effort to advocate for policies that make lasting, systemic change to policing in Illinois. House Bill 841, sponsored by Sen. Elgie Sims and Rep. Justin Slaughter, was initiated by Raoul and focuses on three key areas for reform: creating uniformity for officers and departments across the state, promoting professionalism in law enforcement, and increasing transparency. HB 841 will make the following improvements to the police certification and de-certification process in Illinois:

Creating uniformity during the review process: Currently, the ILETSB must automatically de-certify an officer only if he or she is convicted of a felony or a limited number of serious misdemeanors. The bill empowers the ILETSB to investigate allegations of serious misconduct that may not automatically lead to de-certification, but conduct that warrants a review of the officer’s actions, such as excessive use of force, failure to intervene when another officer uses excessive force, tampering with a body or dash camera, or dishonesty in the reporting of a crime.

Promoting professionalism: A mandatory reporting system would be created in which an officer would report to the ILETSB that they have completed their mandatory in-service training, are still employed by a department, and have not engaged in conduct worthy of de-certification.

Increasing transparency: The bill would improve upon three areas of information sharing: information shared between hiring departments; information shared between departments and prosecutors; and information shared between the ILETSB and the public. Raoul’s proposal includes an expansion of the Officer Professional Conduct database to include relevant disciplinary information, including reports of dishonesty, misconduct, and the results of an officer’s de-certification. Expanding the information included in the database means personnel decisions would no longer rely on word-of-mouth recommendations.

Attorney General Raoul encourages individuals who have been impacted by a violent crime to call his office’s Crime Victims Assistance Line at 1-800-228-3368 or visit the Attorney General’s website.