Professional groups provide nearly three decades of partnership in strengthening public safety through children’s well-being
Police chiefs, sheriffs, and state’s attorneys from every corner of Illinois comprise the 350+ membership of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, all joining the call for wise public policies and investments that help children thrive and avoid trouble.
Yet law enforcement leaders’ partnership in these efforts also extends further to include their three major professional groups statewide: the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police (ILACP), the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association (ISA), and the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association (ISAA).
In fact, in 1998, ILACP leaders were among those helping to establish Illinois’ as the first and flagship state office of the two-year-old national network that represented Fight Crime’s start. Since that time, Fight Crime has worked with the chiefs’ association in various ways — from periodically presenting to ILACP gatherings about its policy priorities to authoring several articles for the ILACP’s monthly Command magazine.
Several Fight Crime members at the ILACP’s 2025 conference in Lincolnshire: Police Chiefs Kirk Brueggeman (O’Fallon), Joe Leonas (Lincolnshire), Marc Maton (Lemont), and Eric Barden (Zion). Chief Leonas also served as ILACP president in 2025, and Chief Maton was immediate past president.
As Fight Crime’s national 25th anniversary arrived, the ILACP’s Executive Board passed a resolution honoring the occasion and its partnership with the group. The resolution applauded Fight Crime for shared work “promoting policies that protect public safety through smart investments in children and families,” efforts that have “helped lead to significantly increased public and policymaker support for high-quality preschool, child care, after-school, and voluntary home-visiting programs” statewide.
Visiting Fight Crime: Invest in Kids’ booth at the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association conference in 2024: Sheriffs Chris Watkins (Peoria County) and Darren Hart (Rock Island).
One significant way in which Fight Crime has paired with these associations: Regularly co-sponsoring and appearing at their annual conferences, one of several ways in which Fight Crime has routinely met and helped sustain relationships with its hundreds of members. For many years, on the final day of the ISAA conference, a group of its state’s attorney members has met for breakfast conversations about Fight Crime: Invest in Kids priorities and activities.
State’s attorneys joining Fight Crime’s breakfast discussion at the ISAA’s 2025 conference: Craig Miller (Cass County), Bob Berlin (DuPage), Catherine Runty (Henry), J. Hanley (Winnebago), Jamie Mosser (Kane), Eric Weis (Kendall), Jodi Hoos (Peoria), Phillip Givens (Clay), Eric Rinehart (Lake), and Douglas Dyhrkopp (Gallatin).
As DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said in welcoming his colleagues to the 2024 ISAA conference in Oak Brook, Fight Crime participation is “a way to be proactive in preventing crime, in addition to what we do on a daily basis in prosecuting crimes.”
Periodically, Fight Crime and its efforts form the basis of presentations at the meetings of regional law enforcement leaders, as well. In 2025 alone, this included gatherings of the Greater Cook County Council of Police Chiefs in Burr Ridge (in January), the West Suburban Chiefs of Police Association in Rosemont (June), and the Central Illinois Association of Law Enforcement Executives in Springfield (October).
During many legislative sessions, “Day at the Capitol” events have drawn on the enthusiastic participation of Fight Crime’s members from each of their professional associations, as well.
These conversations with key state policymakers — including legislative leaders and sometimes the governor and lieutenant governor — help demonstrate a united front of support from Illinois’ law enforcement community for Fight Crime’s policy agenda of bolstering early childhood and after-school services.
Image at top: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids’ 2024 Day at the Capitol discussion with Illinois Senate President Don Harmon and Assistant Majority Leader Linda Holmes included the participation of Police Chiefs Carla Redd (Rockford) and Fred Hayes (Elwood), as well as Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins and State’s Attorneys Eric Weis (Kendall County) and Eric Rinehart (Lake).
