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Federal Use of Force Certification

Purpose: For local agencies to gain certification of compliance with the U.S. Department of Justice’s standards on safe policing in compliance with Executive Order No. 13929. Such certification of compliance is necessary to gain eligibility for federal discretionary grants. The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police has been designated as an official certifying body through its Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ILEAP).

How this will work

Updated October 29, 2020

  1. To implement the Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities (June 16, 2016), the U.S. Department of Justice issued "Standards for Certification on Safe Policing for Safe Communities" on October 28, 2020.Those standards are available here as a PDF document.

  2. Local law enforcement agencies will apply for certification that says their use of force policy (a) adheres to all applicable federal, state, and local laws, and (b) prohibits the use of chokeholds except in situations where the use of deadly force is allowed by law.

  3. More details about how to apply for this Federal Use of Force Certification, along with an easy-to-follow checklist, will be available soon from the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ILEAP) through the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. 

  4. ILEAP assessors will review the application and provide the certification in a timely manner. Certification will be for three years.

  5. ILEAP and the Illinois Chiefs will maintain the official list of certified agencies and send it to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  6. Please be patient. This was just announced October 28, 2020, along with final language to the states. ILEAP has been preparing for this and will be up and running in the near future. Please check back with this website regularly.

Background

  • President Trump issued Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities on June 16, 2020.
  • Section 2 of this order gave the U.S. Attorney General the authority to certify "independent credentialing bodies" such as ILEAP to confirm that local law enforcement agencies have use of force policies to meet certain specified minimum standards.
  • A copy of that entire Executive Order is available here in PDF format.
  • In the summer and fall of 2020, the COPS office in the Department of Justice identified 34 states with state-level independent credentialing bodies. In Illinois, that is the ILEAP program through the Illinois Chiefs, which is intended to be the primary certifying body. Also on the Designated Independent Credentialing Bodies is the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board (ILETSB).

ILEAP and Federal Use of Force Certification Coordinator:  Lt. Jeff Hamer
[email protected]
309.333.0684