The Illinois State Police will be celebrating its 100th birthday on Friday. On April 1st, 1922, John J. Stack and eight men served as the director and highway patrol officers of the Illinois State Police. Their equipment consisted of surplus World War 1 motorcycles and uniforms and the mission was to “enforce the weight laws of the state protecting the ‘hard roads’ from damage caused by overweight trucks.  The mission of course has increased over time.

By 1972, the department had 1,709 sworn officers and 602 civilian employees across the state and currently has 1,836 officers and 1,084 civilian employees. Governor JB Pritzker says that the department has changed a lot since its inception in 1922.

ISP Director Brendan Kelly is fascinated by how much the department has changed since 1922.

There are many divisions of the ISP including the Division of Patrols, Division of Forensic Services, Division of Internal Investigation, Division of Justice Services, and the Division of Criminal Investigation.