HR0151 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0151 LRB094 11303 HSS 42113 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Area-wide Law Enforcement Radio Terminal System (ALERTS) combines traditional radio technology with data communications to provide officers in patrol cars with the information they need for making quick, effective decisions on the street; and

WHEREAS, Approximately 3,000 public safety officers working for over 300 public safety agencies, including municipal police departments, county sheriffs' offices, and firefighting agencies, use the ALERTS system in their law enforcement and other public safety activities on a daily basis to maximize the health and safety of Illinois citizens; and

WHEREAS, The ALERTS system was originally set up and paid for in the 1980s by Illinois municipal police forces and county sheriffs' offices pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement; and

WHEREAS, The process by which the ALERTS system was set up and maintained is precisely the sort of public-safety-minded intergovernmental agreement that the State of Illinois ought to be fostering and supporting in this time of budgetary constraints and threats to homeland security; and

WHEREAS, A study by the Department of Central Management Services has recently taken place, which points toward the convergence of the ALERTS system with the Illinois Wireless Information Network (I-WIN) being utilized by the State Police, and further suggests that the operation of the ALERTS system be transferred to the Department of Central Management Services, which would in turn dismantle one of the largest public safety communications networks in the country; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we express our thanks to the units of local government that took far-sighted cooperative action, starting in the 1980s, to create and foster the ALERTS law enforcement data communications system; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the State and its ministerial units should encourage intergovernmental cooperation between units of local government by allowing the cooperating units to hold on to what they have, rather than using their cooperation as an excuse or motivation to expropriate the products of their cooperation; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be presented to the Executive Director of the Criminal Justice Information Society, the Director of Central Management Services, and the Governor.