The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board - isn’t complying with the law

[Upholder]

From https://apnews.com/article/concealed-carry-guns-law-enforcement-attorney-general-909770e47c355ecac1351e409ca73a7a

 

Quote

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Thousands of law enforcement officers left out when Illinois adopted a federal law allowing police agency retirees to carry concealed weapons saw their fortunes reversed Jan. 1 with a state law granting them permission.

But two months later, they still await the OK to carry firearms in public because the regulatory agency that runs the retiree program isn’t complying with the law.

 

 

An Illinois state department not complying with the law?   I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

[davel501]

Meh. Let them get concealed carry permit like the rest of us. 

[RANDY]

On 3/1/2023 at 9:44 PM, davel501 said:

Meh. Let them get concealed carry permit like the rest of us. 

Very true,  otherwise it would be a violation of the Illinois constitution equal protection clause.

[Helpdesk9]

On 3/1/2023 at 8:22 PM, Upholder said:

From https://apnews.com/article/concealed-carry-guns-law-enforcement-attorney-general-909770e47c355ecac1351e409ca73a7a

 

 

 

An Illinois state department not complying with the law?   I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

Meanwhile...

 

https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/no-badge-no-problem/Content?oid=16402124

 

 

 

 

• News & Opinion
•  News

February 02, 2023

 

No badge, no problem

Police board chair has gun permit reserved for real cops

By Bruce Rushton

 

 

 

 

In 2015, President Barack Obama appointed Sean Smoot as one of 11 members of a new Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

The chair of the Illinois Police Training and Standards Board has a permit to carry a concealed firearm by virtue of being a retired police officer, even though he never was a sworn officer with arrest powers.

In his 2019 application for a permit to carry a concealed firearm via a program for retired law enforcement officers, Sean M. Smoot, under penalty of perjury, signed a form stating that he had been employed as a law enforcement officer for 10 years, had the power to make arrests and "was authorized to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or incarceration of any person for any violation of law." He told Illinois Retired Officer Concealed Carry, the agency that issues permits, that Leland Grove had employed him as a police commissioner.

Under state and federal law, only bona fide cops who have retired can obtain permits to carry concealed firearms through a program that began in 2004. Once granted by a state, the power to pack heat extends nationwide.

But Smoot never worked a beat in Leland Grove, where he was an alderman for a dozen years. The city has no personnel file for Smoot, nor any police reports prepared by him. Several online biographies, including one issued in December, when Gov. JB Pritzker announced that Smoot would become chair of the board tasked with training police, contain no mention of Smoot ever being a police officer.

In addition to training police, the board can revoke certifications to work as law enforcement officers and can investigate or review misconduct complaints against cops, a power recently granted to the board by the General Assembly. Pritzker appointed Smoot to the board in 2020.

"Throughout his career, Sean Smoot has prioritized making Illinois safer, sometimes in extraordinarily difficult circumstances," Pritzker said in a December press release. "I can think of no one who is more qualified for this position, and I wish him the very best of luck as he begins his term."

Smoot, an attorney who is director and chief legal counsel for the Police Benevolent and Protective Association, a police officers' union, did not return phone calls or an email. Leland Grove police chief Dan Ryan, who signed a form stating, under penalty of perjury, that Smoot was a retired cop who met requirements to obtain a concealed weapons permit under the program for retired police officers, also could not be reached for comment.

In 2021, the Police Training and Standards Board fired Brent Fischer, the agency's executive director, after the state inspector general determined that he had wrongly certified Howard Buffett, son of investor Warren Buffett, as a law enforcement officer after the younger Buffett donated money to law-enforcement causes, including a $15 million donation to the board in 2016 and a $10,000 donation for a police dog recertification program three years later. All told, Buffett's donations to various law enforcement organizations totaled more $143 million, the inspector general reported.

"Certification of law enforcement officer status, especially considering the significant public interest in maintaining integrity in that process, should not be minimized, nor should it be provided based on someone's ability to financially contribute, regardless of how great that assistance is, to the law enforcement community," the inspector general wrote in a 2021 report that found Buffett had not completed basic law enforcement training courses.

Since obtaining his concealed weapon permit from Illinois Retired Officer Concealed Carry, Smoot has renewed it three times, most recently last summer, when Kenton Manning, program manager for Illinois Retired Officer Concealed Carry, was rangemaster and certified that all 30 rounds fired from distances ranging from five to 15 yards found their mark.

Manning says that his agency does not verify information included in written forms signed by applicants and representatives of departments who certify that applicants meet standards. About 9,000 retired cops in Illinois have permits issued by his organization, he says.

"I wouldn't knowingly let someone who I knew wasn't a sworn officer into the program," Manning says.

[mikew]

On 3/1/2023 at 9:44 PM, davel501 said:

Meh. Let them get concealed carry permit like the rest of us. 

 

On 3/2/2023 at 12:48 AM, RANDY said:

Very true,  otherwise it would be a violation of the Illinois constitution equal protection clause.

 

For your consideration, that's one half of how we got CCW in Illinois in the first place:
the county and state government forking over the correctional officers.
Remember, there were two federal cases, Shepard v Madigan and Moore v Madigan, these were later combined.

Michael Moore was a retired Cook Co correctional officer denied his federally guaranteed CCW under HR218.

 

[davel501]

On 3/5/2023 at 10:39 PM, mikew said:

 

 

For your consideration, that's one half of how we got CCW in Illinois in the first place:
the county and state government forking over the correctional officers.
Remember, there were two federal cases, Shepard v Madigan and Moore v Madigan, these were later combined.

Michael Moore was a retired Cook Co correctional officer denied his federally guaranteed CCW under HR218.

 

The LEOSA shouldn't be a thing. I can't say it any more clearly. Law enforcement are just people. 

[Flynn]

On 3/5/2023 at 10:55 PM, davel501 said:

The LEOSA shouldn't be a thing. I can't say it any more clearly. Law enforcement are just people. 

 

I 100% agree, since the 2nd applies to all and is a civil right and carrying is part of that right, someones current day job (when not on the clock) and/or the day job they retired from should never afford those people more 2nd rights than everyone else, I will never accept anything but equal protection of the 2nd.

[AlphaKoncepts aka CGS]

Government employees should never get special treatment. In fact, government employees should always be held to a higher standard.

[BobPistol]

 

On 3/1/2023 at 7:22 PM, Upholder said:

 

 

An Illinois state department not complying with the law?   I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

 

Gomer Pyle says "surprise, surprise!"

[yurimodin]

On 3/6/2023 at 7:21 AM, AlphaKoncepts aka CGS said:

Government employees should never get special treatment. In fact, government employees should always be held to a higher standard.

Govt pensions vs Social Security for the peasants..........nope no special treatment there at all.

[RANDY]

On 3/5/2023 at 10:39 PM, mikew said:

 

 

For your consideration, that's one half of how we got CCW in Illinois in the first place:
the county and state government forking over the correctional officers.
Remember, there were two federal cases, Shepard v Madigan and Moore v Madigan, these were later combined.

Michael Moore was a retired Cook Co correctional officer denied his federally guaranteed CCW under HR218.

 

We would have got carry either way,  but it would be vastly different then we have know, and with the sensitive places and the exceptions for law enforcement the CCL law should be unconstitutional under equal protection.   The equal protection claims are going to be a big headache for the state in the coming years.  I made the comment that equal protection may become a larger issue than people think, but Todd thought differently.   Now how many laws does IL have with carveouts for different groups that can now be potentially challenged if the equal protection claim holds.

[mab22]

On 3/7/2023 at 6:49 AM, RANDY said:

We would have got carry either way,  but it would be vastly different then we have know, and with the sensitive places and the exceptions for law enforcement the CCL law should be unconstitutional under equal protection.   The equal protection claims are going to be a big headache for the state in the coming years.  I made the comment that equal protection may become a larger issue than people think, but Todd thought differently.   Now how many laws does IL have with carveouts for different groups that can now be potentially challenged if the equal protection claim holds.

Could even have property tax implications. Senior citizens vs non senior citizens, taxing bodies would love that, more revenue as grandma and grandpa get run over by the bus, repeatedly.

[AlphaKoncepts aka CGS]

On 3/6/2023 at 3:20 PM, yurimodin said:

Govt pensions vs Social Security for the peasants..........nope no special treatment there at all.

I didn't say they don't receive special treatment. I said they shouldn't. Two wrongs don't make a right.