BAO Recertification Update

In November of 2018, the Illinois State Police and ILEAS began discussions regarding the use of the ILEAS online Learning Management System (LMS) to recertify expired or nearly expired Breath Alcohol Operators (BAO).  The LMS software that ISP used was failing and hundreds of operators were unable to complete the training, get certificates, etc.  ILEAS offered to assist ISP since virtually all the agencies affected are ILEAS member agencies.  ISP needed time to design and implement a new methodology to recertify BAO’s.  ILEAS offered to assist in that effort. 

ILEAS began the process in mid-March of 2019 and continued until December 31, 2019.  As we learned through the process, there were approximately 10,000 BAOs (including PBT-E) in Illinois outside of Chicago PD.  For the first several months, ILEAS focused on identifying and recertifying Operators whose certifications were reaching their four-year final expiration date.  By November of 2019, ILEAS had built the tools and processes necessary to recertify everyone.  These are the resulting numbers:

Number of operators in the database ISP sent to ILEAS                                        8,681

Operators added to the database from “in person” initial training classes*             1,132

Total Operators                                                                                                        9,813

Since March 2019 operators added to the LMS                                                      7,615

Operators who took the training and passed the test                                              6,318

*- These operators were newly trained by ISP in 2018 and 2019 during classroom basic training.  They were not added to the original database and had to be added later. 

After a review of all the operators that were registered, 83% took and successfully completed the recertification.  At the end of the process, 76% of all the known operators outside of Chicago PD were recertified.  Keep in mind that many operators in the original database had retired, changed assignments letting their certification lapse, moved to other agencies or simply resigned.  Our estimate is that around 80% of the total BAOs in the State were recertified through the ILEAS system.  ILEAS also worked with some State Attorneys to provide certificates to officers/deputies who had court appearances but not previously been issued one.  

In order for chiefs, sheriffs and training officers to oversee and manage the certifications of their respective operators, ILEAS’ contract software development vendor, Indilus Technology, built into the membership system an interface between the agency and the LMS.  This software provided the capability of every sheriff, chief or identified training officer to manage the training records and status of their operators on a custom dashboard. 

In the coming weeks, the Illinois State Police and ILEAS will jointly announce the new process ISP is instituting for future recertifications.  ILEAS will send a membership-wide email informing everyone of the new process and the contact info for staff at ISP who are re-assuming this responsibility.  ILEAS will be forwarding ISP a copy of the recertification database to ISP in the near future so they can load it into the new system. 

ILEAS Executive Director Jim Page congratulates and recognizes the huge effort and investment that staff and Indilus made to get this done.  Congratulations also goes to the agencies themselves for getting literally thousands of officers through the system in two months.  Sheriffs and Chiefs, please contact Jim Page with any questions in the meantime.