Subscribe by RSS
What is Chief Noble doing in retirement?
By Anne Eickstadt
ANNE EICKSTADT PHOTO Belvidere Republican
Chief Jan Noble updated the police volunteers (VIPS) about his activities following his retirement for the Belvidere Police Department.
“I left on March 4, 2018,” said Chief Jan Noble, previous Belvidere Police Chief. “I immediately started working for the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board as a field investigator.” The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board is the state agency mandated to promote and maintain a high level of professional standards for law enforcement and correctional officers.
The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board is authorized to appoint Investigators to enforce the responsibilities conferred upon the Board by law or rule. These investigators are certified law enforcement officers possessing the authority of peace officers and have all the same powers possessed by municipal and county officers.
The Board’s Field Representatives are all appointed as Investigators and all investigators possess law enforcement credentials.
Field Representatives work with agencies to provide assistance on many issues and are the “eyes and ears” of the Board. As Board investigators, they work to ensure that all law enforcement agencies under the authority of the Board are in compliance with all Board requirements such as background investigations, mandated basic and in-service training, and mandated reporting. Board Investigators work closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement investigators to conduct possible criminal investigations.
“37,000 police work in Illinois in 254 departments. I cover 20 counties in Northern Illinois. Boone County is the only police and sheriff’s office that share a building. Boone County and Belvidere get a very good value for their buck for this. I try to visit five or six law enforcement offices each day. I have a few offices south of I-80 but all law enforcement in Northern Illinois is my responsibility. I also go to the police academies and proctor the certification tests.
“All 37,000 officers in Illinois must do unfunded, mandated training. The officers are classified as active, inactive, or decertified. If an officer is decertified, he loses the right to be a police officer due to poor conduct, arrested for a felony, criminal acts, domestic battery, …
“I have been to four of these in the past five years. Eleven people, also unfunded volunteers, meet in Springfield to serve on the Certification Review Board for these officers.
“If a complaint about a police officer comes in and cannot be resolved locally, I go in and investigate. If the complaint is anonymous, I cannot follow up with any questions so I have to do as much thorough research as I can and determine if the complaint is authentic or just a nuisance. If I decide the complaint is authentic and should be reviewed by the state, I recommend that the Review Board should look at the facts. Anyone can go online to the Public Web Portal and find an officer’s certification status.
“Effective as of July 12, all law enforcement officers must have 12 hours of hands-on scenario-based role playing, six hours in use-of-force including de-escalation training, six hours of high-risk traffic stops training, and officer safety training. IN addition to this yearly training, officers must take training in emergency medical response, crisis intervention, and officer wellness and mental health training.
“Body cameras, also currently unfunded, are required for law enforcement officers. All law enforcement officers must wear body cameras by Jan. 1, 2025.” (BPD officers already have body cameras.) The Illinois Assembly has come up with a creative way to fund the cameras. They are adding a $4 surcharge for renewing your auto insurance to fund the body cams.
“The Illinois Law Enforcement Training & Standards Board will be hiring seven more people to do what I do and oversee police departments so my workload will become much more reasonable. It will drop to about half. Currently, the Springfield office has 18 field investigators, they are approved for 40. The office only has room for 20 investigators so the office will be expanding soon.
“I have four years invested in this job and I want to do four more. Then it will be time for me to unplug and enjoy my family and grandchildren.”
