Sangamon Sun

A non-profit public advocacy group says it has uncovered what it describes as a failure at the most basic level of law enforcement in Illinois.

The group, the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW), argues on its Illinois Leaks website that the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standard Board (ILETSB) has not carried out some of its fundamental responsibilities, including approving any of the directors of its police academies.

Kirk Allen, Co-Founder of Edgar County Watchdogs | Photo courtesy of Illinoisleaks.com

ECW co-founder Kirk Allen said he talked by phone with the ILETSB's legal counsel, whom Allen said acknowledged that "to his knowledge the ILTESB has never, yes never, approved a single Police Academy Director in the State of Illinois."

Allen also said that in a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request -- his second -- the board could not find any records of an ILETSB director being approved.

The Illinois Leaks article points to Title 20 Chapter V – 1720.30a of the Illinois Administrative Code, which requires that every local school and course be certified by the ILETSB under the guidance of a full-time director approved by the board's executive director.

Allen also alleges that the board did not respond to his first FOIA request.

“They violated [the Freedom of Information Act] by not responding in the time frame required and after a phone conversation with the ILETSB attorney, citing the need for the clarification as to what I was asking for, I revised my FOI request and issued a revised letter September 13, 2016,” Allen writes on the website.

The ECW has also asserted that the some members of the ILETSB have failed to attend a single meeting, sending a representative or proxy instead. These include the state's attorney general, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, the director of the Department of Corrections, and the Cook County sheriff, the ECW said.  

According to its website, the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board is a state agency charged with promoting and maintaining a high level of professional standards for law enforcement and correctional officers. The statutory board lists its purpose as protecting citizen health, safety and welfare by encouraging law enforcement and other related agencies to upgrade and maintain training standards for law enforcement personnel.