HB0299enr 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB0299 Enrolled LRB099 03643 AWJ 23651 b

AN ACT concerning local government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Counties Code is amended by changing Section 3-6012.1 as follows:

(55 ILCS 5/3-6012.1)

Sec. 3-6012.1. Court security officers. The sheriff of any county in Illinois with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants may hire court security officers in such number as the county board shall from time to time deem necessary. Court security officers may be designated by the Sheriff to attend courts and perform the functions set forth in 3-6023. Court security officers shall have the authority to arrest; however, such arrest powers shall be limited to performance of their official duties as court security officers. Court security officers may carry weapons, upon which they have been trained and qualified as permitted by law, at their place of employment and to and from their place of employment with the consent of the Sheriff. The court security officers shall be sworn officers of the Sheriff and shall be primarily responsible for the security of the courthouse and its courtrooms. The court security officers shall be under the sole control of the sheriff of the county in which they are hired. No court security officer shall be subject to the jurisdiction of a Sheriff's Merit Commission unless the officer was hired through the Sheriff's Merit Commission's certified applicant process under Section 3-8010 of the Counties Code. If a county has a Sheriff's Merit Commission, court security officers shall be subject to its jurisdiction for disciplinary purposes. They are not regular appointed deputies under Section 3-6008. The position of court security officer shall not be considered a rank when seeking initial appointment as deputy sheriff under Section 3-8011.

Every court security officer hired on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1996 shall serve a probationary period of 12 months during which time they may be discharged at the will of the Sheriff.

(Source: P.A. 89-685, eff. 6-1-97.)