The Illinois State Police is set to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
The State Police began April 1, 1922 with a Director and eight highway patrolmen. The mission originally was to protect new roads from damage by heavy trucks.
Since then, the ISP has evolved to include criminal investigations, forensics, air support, K-9 units and more says Governor JB Pritzker.
“The makeup of the ranks of our state troopers have changed too. Women and people of color weren’t allowed to serve 100 years ago. Today they are among the ISP’s highest ranks.”
Director Brendan Kelly says in the beginning they didn’t even have squad cars.
“The original vehicles were actually surplus from WW1 motorcycles that many years ago only 8 troopers at the time had those old WW2 motorcycles so obviously things have evolved significantly.”
The State Police now has more than 29,000 employees including 1800-plus sworn officers.
The Governor says he wants to see more troopers and forensic scientists added in the coming year.
