Sunday, October 27, 2013

Illinois Police Records

By Ben Kingsley


The Illinois State Police compiles all Illinois police records from all county police department. All records are accessible by the public in accordance to the Freedom of Information Act. The Act grants the public access to all records of the government in connection with the public. Although all records are accessible, some records are restricted from the public. Juvenile records, arrests with no conviction, sealed and expunged records are not allowed for public access. All records are obtainable by sending a request to the State's Bureau of Identification.

Researchers who want to obtain a particular record should check whether the record is accessible through the FAL. Most police records are accessible although some are not. These reports as mentioned above might involve minors as in cases of juvenile arrests or those that were made for private access only. There is a wide range of police reports that one can obtain from the Bureau.

One type of police report is a traffic/crash report. Researchers can get the report through either online query or by mail. The one requesting the report should indicate the agency crash report number, the persons involved in the accident and the IDOT number. A fee of $5 is charged for every report requested. For those who require a reconstruction report, they can do so but will have to pay the $20 fee. A self-addressed stamped envelope should be included together with the request form and the cheque and sent to the Illinois State police. Do note that the ISP is not responsible for crashes/traffics that happened within the municipalities.

For criminal records, two types of request maybe made - (a) Non-fingerprint conviction information form ISP6-405b and (b) Fingerprint conviction information request form ISP6-404b. The ISP only allows one name per request. However, other requests can be included in the form. For Non-fingerprint conviction information, the researcher must send the form ISP6-405B to the ISP. It is important to include all pertinent information to ensure that the research will return with results. The cost for the request is $16. However, for cheque that is not drawn on US banks, the fee is $30.

For Fingerprint forms, researchers have to pay $20 for US based bank cheques and $50 if the cheque is not drawn in a US bank. Fingerprint request is costlier but is more accurate than non-fingerprint request as some offenders might use an alias or alternate name. A fingerprint check would ensure that the person one is looking for is the right one.

Those who want to know how to find police records easily and without having to pay, much can do their research online. Many search engine sites provide details that might be relevant to the researcher and that they can find useful in their search. Online searching is the best way to garner information without having to pay too much and wasting time waiting for the results.




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