§ 9.2 — Officer professional conduct database; transparency

Illinois § 9.2

• Jurisdiction: Illinois
• Topic: GOVERNMENT
• Ch. 50: LOCAL GOVERNMENT
• Act 50 ILCS 705/: Illinois Police Training Act.

Text

(a) All law enforcement agencies and the Illinois State Police shall notify the Board of any final determination of a willful violation of department, agency, or the Illinois State Police policy, official misconduct, or violation of law within 10 days when: (1) the determination leads to a suspension of at least 10 days; (2) any infraction that would trigger an official or formal investigation under a law enforcement agency or the Illinois State Police policy; (3) there is an allegation of misconduct or regarding truthfulness as to a material fact, bias, or integrity; or (4) the officer resigns or retires during the course of an investigation and the officer has been served notice that the officer is under investigation. Agencies and the Illinois State Police may report to the Board any conduct they deem appropriate to disseminate to another law enforcement agency regarding a law enforcement officer. The agency or the Illinois State Police shall report to the Board within 10 days of a final determination and final exhaustion of any administrative appeal, or the law enforcement officer's resignation or retirement, and shall provide information regarding the nature of the violation. This notification shall not necessarily trigger certification review. A law enforcement agency and the Illinois State Police shall be immune from liability for a disclosure made as described in this subsection, unless the disclosure would constitute intentional misrepresentation or gross negligence. (b) Within 14 days after receiving notification from a law enforcement agency or the Illinois State Police, the Board must notify the law enforcement officer of the report and the officer's right to provide a statement regarding the reported violation. The law enforcement officer shall have 14 days from receiving notice to provide a written objection contesting information included in the agency's report. The objection must be filed with the Board on a form prescribed by the Board and a copy must be served on the law enforcement agency. The objection shall remain in the database with the reported violation. (c) The Board shall maintain a database readily available to any chief administrative officer, or the officer's designee, of a law enforcement agency and the Illinois State Police that shall show for each law enforcement officer: (i) dates of certification, decertification, and inactive status; (ii) each sustained instance of departmental misconduct that lead to a suspension at least 10 days or any infraction that would trigger an official or formal investigation under the law enforcement agency policy, any allegation of misconduct regarding truthfulness as to a material fact, bias, or integrity, or any other reported violation, the nature of the violation, the reason for the final decision of discharge or dismissal, and any statement provided by the officer; (iii) date of separation from employment from any local or state law enforcement agency; (iv) the reason for separation from employment, including, but not limited to: whether the separation was based on misconduct or occurred while the law enforcement agency was conducting an investigation of the certified individual for a violation of an employing agency's rules, policy or procedure or other misconduct or improper action. (1) This database shall also be accessible to the State's Attorney of any county in this State and the Attorney General for the purpose of complying with obligations under Brady v. Maryland (373 U.S. 83) or Giglio v. United States (405 U.S. 150). This database shall also be accessible to the chief administrative officer of any law enforcement agency for the purposes of hiring law enforcement officers. This database shall not be accessible to anyone not listed in this subsection. (2) Before a law enforcement agency may appoint a law enforcement officer or a person seeking a certification as a law enforcement officer in this State, the chief administrative officer or designee must check the Officer Professional Conduct Database, contact each person's previous law enforcement employers, and document the contact. This documentation must be available for review by the Board for a minimum of five years after the law enforcement officer's termination, retirement, resignation or separation with that agency. (3) The database, documents, materials, or other information in the possession or control of the Board that are obtained by or disclosed to the Board under this subsection shall be confidential by law and privileged, shall not be subject to subpoena, and shall not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action when sought from the Board. However, the Board is authorized to use such documents, materials, or other information in furtherance of any regulatory or legal action brought as part of the Board's official duties. The Board shall not disclose the database or make such documents, materials, or other information it has obtained or that has been disclosed to it to the public. Neither the Board nor any person who received documents, materials or other information shared under this subsection shall be required to testify in any private civil action concerning the database or any confidential documents, materials, or information subject to this subsection. (d) The Board shall maintain a searchable database of law enforcement officers accessible to the public that shall include: (i) the law enforcement officer's employing agency; (ii) the date of the officer's initial certification and the officer's current certification status; and (iii) any sustained complaint of misconduct that resulted in decertification and the date thereof; provided, however, that information shall not be included in the database that would allow the public to ascertain the home address of an officer or another person; provided further, that information regarding an officer's or another person's family member shall not be included in the database. The Board shall make the database publicly available on its website. (e) The Board shall maintain a searchable database of all completed investigations against law enforcement officers related to decertification. The database shall identify each law enforcement officer by a confidential and anonymous number and include: (i) the law enforcement officer's employing agency; (ii) the date of the incident referenced in the complaint; (iii) the location of the incident; (iv) the race and ethnicity of each officer involved in the incident; (v) the age, gender, race and ethnicity of each person involved in the incident, if known; (vi) whether a person in the complaint, including a law enforcement officer, was injured, received emergency medical care, was hospitalized or died as a result of the incident; (vii) the law enforcement agency or other entity assigned to conduct an investigation of the incident; (viii) when the investigation was completed; (ix) whether the complaint was sustained; and (x) the type of misconduct investigated; provided, however, that the Board shall redact or withhold such information as necessary to prevent the disclosure of the identity of an officer. The Board shall make the database publicly available on its website. (e-1) An investigation is complete when the investigation has either been terminated or the decertification action, including the administrative review process, has been completed, whichever is later. (e-2) At any time, a law enforcement officer shall have access to the law enforcement officer's own records on file with the Board, as it pertains to the databases in this Section. (f) Annual report. The Board shall submit an annual report to the Governor, Attorney General, President and Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives on or before March 1, 2023, and every year thereafter indicating: (1) the number of complaints received in the preceding calendar year, including but not limited to the race, gender, and type of discretionary decertification complaints received; (2) the number of investigations initiated in the preceding calendar year since the date of the last report; (3) the number of investigations concluded in the preceding calendar year; (4) the number of investigations pending as of the last date of the preceding calendar year; (5) the number of hearings held in the preceding calendar year; and (6) the number of officers decertified in the preceding calendar year. The annual report shall be publicly available on the website of the Board. (g) Nothing in this Section shall exempt a law enforcement agency from which the Board has obtained data, documents, materials, or other information or that has disclosed data, documents, materials, or other information to the Board from disclosing public records in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. (h) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the changes made to this Section by this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly and Public Act 101-652 take effect July 1, 2022.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 101-652, eff. 1-1-22; 102-694, eff. 1-7-22.)