HR0624 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0624 LRB094 14027 HSS 48910 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the State of Illinois are pleased to congratulate Rantoul Chief of Police Paul Dollins on the occasion of his retirement after a long and dedicated career in law enforcement; and

WHEREAS, Chief Dollins attended Benton High School in southern Illinois, graduating in 1953; he served his country as a member of the U.S. Army, where he did combat engineering work at a U.S. Army base in Germany; he returned to southern Illinois in 1955 and attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, majoring in political science and history; and

WHEREAS, After teaching for two years at Benton Junior High School, he changed careers to work for the Illinois Division of Narcotic Control, investigating drug dealers and drug users for all of downstate Illinois; during that time, he met and married his wife, Judy Benner; they are the proud parents of three children and grandparents of five; and

WHEREAS, After over eight years in that position, he moved to another branch of law enforcement, working as an investigator with the University of Illinois Police Department; he served 20 of his 25 years as chief of that division; under his leadership, the university expanded efforts to prevent sexual assaults and launched a student patrol system; and

WHEREAS, After he retired from the University of Illinois Police Department in 1995, he became a lobbyist for the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police; he lobbied for the passage of laws allowing police to stop motorists for failing to wear seat belts and legislation requiring children to be placed in child/infant restraint seats in vehicles; and

WHEREAS, In 1999, he signed on to serve as interim police chief of Rantoul; four months later, he became the permanent chief of police; during his tenure, the department hired a social worker to help the victims of domestic violence; the village also created the Rantoul Comprehensive Community Council, which works to reduce domestic violence and to raise awareness of the problem throughout the community; the department increased the enforcement of traffic violations; Rantoul was among the first police departments in downstate Illinois to put defibrillators in patrol cars, and the devices have already been used to save two lives; he expanded the number of neighborhood watch programs from two to ten and launched a village-wide National Night Out celebration, held each August; he also established Rantoul's first street crimes unit to concentrate on drug enforcement and established a unit of police officers who patrol the community on bicycles; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Chief Paul Dollins on the occasion of his retirement as Rantoul Chief of Police, and we commend him for his many years of dedicated service to the field of law enforcement; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to him as an expression of our deepest respect and esteem and with best wishes for a relaxing retirement.