Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS)

The Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS) was formed in 2002 in response to the September 11th attacks as a joint venture of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. We were created to meet the needs of local law enforcement throughout the State of Illinois in matters of mutual aid, emergency response and the combining of resources for public safety and terrorism prevention and response. We are a consortium of over 900 local governments established pursuant to the Constitution of the State of Illinois (Ill. Const. Art. VII, sec. 10), the Illinois Intergovernmental Cooperation Act (5 ILCS 220/1 et seq.), the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (745 ILCS 10/7-101 et seq.) and the Illinois Municipal Code (65 ILCS 5/11-1-2.1). The Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS) has come a long way since its post 9/11 birth. When it was first created, there was no staff, only the beginning of a Governing Board and minimal participation by police and sheriffs. The laudable efforts of the first few individuals that formed ILEAS, Sheriff Jim Olson, Deputy Chief Pete Smith, Chief Deputy Gary Stryker, Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Hillard, Illinois Terrorism Task Force Chair Mike Chamness and many others resulted in the creation of ILEAS and the first Governing Board formed. From those early days when only a few agencies were members, ILEAS now boasts a membership of hundreds of agencies law enforcement agencies, representing over 95% of the officers and deputies in Illinois.