ILLINOIS STATE POLICE CELEBRATES 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF DIVISION OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION REESTABLISHMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2024
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August 16, 2024
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Police (ISP) is celebrating the fifth anniversary of the reestablishment of the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) within the agency. On August 16, 2019, Governor JB Pritzker reestablished DCI to incorporate the functions of criminal investigation, intelligence support, air operations, and special operations.
“The sharp, professional special agents, operators, pilots, and analysts of the Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation are a critical pillar of ISP’s core mission: protecting public safety, pursuing justice, and fighting crime,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly.
Since its reestablishment, DCI has achieved several significant milestones in the daily fight against crime.
- Since 2019, DCI special agents have investigated violent crimes resulting in more than 900 arrests.
- The DCI Special Operations Command has expanded and evolved. Over the last five years, our Air Operations pilots have logged 7,000 hours in the skies assisting with manhunts, missing person searches, pursuits, surveillance, and criminal searches. SWAT has moved from large, armored trucks to more maneuverable vehicles for use on city streets and in tight spaces, as well as implementing new technology such as drones, robots, and surveillance techniques. SWAT teams have been called out on more than 1,500 operations and assisted in more than 45 hostage barricade situations.
- The DCI Special Investigation Unit (SIU) was established in 2020 to conduct sensitive and complex investigations into public integrity. Since its creation, investigations have results in more than 90 criminal charges and more than a dozen major indictments.
- DCI has partnered with the Illinois Attorney General Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and dramatically increased its investigation into child exploitation with over 150 arrests since 2019.
- DCI special agents work with local police officers and detectives across the state as part of Metropolitan Enforcement Groups (MEGs) and multi-jurisdictional Drug Task Forces. Over the last five years, these groups and task forces have seized more than 17,600 pounds of drugs, such as fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamines, apprehended over 7,500 criminal suspects, and seized more than 2,500 illegally possessed firearms.
- DCI created the Trafficking Enforcement Bureau (TEB), which works with MEGs, Task Forces, and other law enforcement to conduct operations and investigations related to human trafficking. TEB began conducting operations in June 2023 and has conducted nearly a dozen operations and arrested 50 individuals attempting to engage in commercial sex acts with minors.
- To conduct firearm enforcement and combat statewide gun trafficking, DCI created the Gun Liaison Officer program, which investigates stolen firearms, places Illinois residents with a Clear and Present Danger determination into compliance with state law, investigates fraudulent FOID applications, and conducts and coordinates firearm safety enforcement details. Since the reestablishment of DCI, ISP has conducted more than 2,300 firearm enforcement details and placed over 5,500 individuals into compliance with the law. DCI has also issued millions of dollars in grants to local law enforcement agencies to conduct similar firearm enforcement details in their communities.
- ISP special agents and the East St. Louis Police Department created the Public Safety Enforcement Group and in 2020 began jointly investigating all violent crimes in East St. Louis. Since its creation, PSEG has handled more than 1,200 violent criminal cases resulting in a 31% decrease in homicides and a 34% decrease in non-fatal shootings in East St. Louis compared to 2019. PSEG special agents are also involved in the community through partnerships with Community Lifeline, the Wraparound Wellness Center, and Treatment Alternatives for Safeer Communities.
- On January 1, 2020, the Tamara Clayton Expressway Camera Act was enacted. Since then, more than 400 license plate readers have been installed along Illinois interstates, which have helped decrease expressway shootings, vehicular hijackings, and other violence crimes. In additional to license plate readers, DCI opened two new ISP Technology Centers in the Chicago area designed with state-of-the-art technology and software to process and quickly analyze digital evidence to help solve crimes committed on expressways.
- The Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center (STIC) is located within DCI and was named the 2021 Fusion Center of the Year by the National Fusion Center Association. STIC averages more than 15,000 requests for information annually from law enforcement and public safety partners to help prevent terrorism and violent crime. STIC and the Safe2Help program coordinate closely to identify potential school threats before they happen.
DCI will continue its mission to gather information and evidence to facilitate the identification, apprehension, and prosecution of persons responsible for committing crime; and to provide specialized intelligence, investigative, tactical, and technological services in support of law enforcement operations throughout Illinois.
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