HR0624 LRB094 14027 HSS 48910 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the
3 State of Illinois are pleased to congratulate Rantoul Chief of
4 Police Paul Dollins on the occasion of his retirement after a
5 long and dedicated career in law enforcement; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Chief Dollins attended Benton High School in
7 southern Illinois, graduating in 1953; he served his country as
8 a member of the U.S. Army, where he did combat engineering work
9 at a U.S. Army base in Germany; he returned to southern
10 Illinois in 1955 and attended Southern Illinois University in
11 Carbondale, majoring in political science and history; and
 
12     WHEREAS, After teaching for two years at Benton Junior High
13 School, he changed careers to work for the Illinois Division of
14 Narcotic Control, investigating drug dealers and drug users for
15 all of downstate Illinois; during that time, he met and married
16 his wife, Judy Benner; they are the proud parents of three
17 children and grandparents of five; and
 
18     WHEREAS, After over eight years in that position, he moved
19 to another branch of law enforcement, working as an
20 investigator with the University of Illinois Police
21 Department; he served 20 of his 25 years as chief of that
22 division; under his leadership, the university expanded
23 efforts to prevent sexual assaults and launched a student
24 patrol system; and
 
25     WHEREAS, After he retired from the University of Illinois
26 Police Department in 1995, he became a lobbyist for the
27 Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police; he lobbied for the
28 passage of laws allowing police to stop motorists for failing
29 to wear seat belts and legislation requiring children to be
30 placed in child/infant restraint seats in vehicles; and
 

 

 

HR0624 - 2 - LRB094 14027 HSS 48910 r

1     WHEREAS, In 1999, he signed on to serve as interim police
2 chief of Rantoul; four months later, he became the permanent
3 chief of police; during his tenure, the department hired a
4 social worker to help the victims of domestic violence; the
5 village also created the Rantoul Comprehensive Community
6 Council, which works to reduce domestic violence and to raise
7 awareness of the problem throughout the community; the
8 department increased the enforcement of traffic violations;
9 Rantoul was among the first police departments in downstate
10 Illinois to put defibrillators in patrol cars, and the devices
11 have already been used to save two lives; he expanded the
12 number of neighborhood watch programs from two to ten and
13 launched a village-wide National Night Out celebration, held
14 each August; he also established Rantoul's first street crimes
15 unit to concentrate on drug enforcement and established a unit
16 of police officers who patrol the community on bicycles;
17 therefore, be it
 
18     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
19 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
20 we congratulate Chief Paul Dollins on the occasion of his
21 retirement as Rantoul Chief of Police, and we commend him for
22 his many years of dedicated service to the field of law
23 enforcement; and be it further
 
24     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
25 presented to him as an expression of our deepest respect and
26 esteem and with best wishes for a relaxing retirement.