SPRINGFIELD — A bill passed in this year’s legislative session would rewrite the definition of a “forcible felony” to allow Illinois State Police to use images obtained from automatic license plate readers in cases involving human trafficking and involuntary servitude.
Automatic license plate readers are cameras that capture images of vehicle license plates. After obtaining pictures captured by ALPRs, state police software runs the license plate numbers through other law enforcement databases – including the National Crime Information Center, the Department of Homeland Security, the Illinois Secretary of State and National Amber Alerts. The software then alerts ISP officials when a license plate number matches one in the databases.
Current law allows ISP to use the cameras for the investigation of cases involving vehicular hijacking, aggravated vehicular hijacking, terrorism, motor vehicle theft, or any forcible felony, which includes treason, first- and second-degree murder, sexual assault, robbery, burglary, arson, kidnapping, aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm…