The Law and Justice Commission was established in 1972 and has operated a training program for local law enforcement personnel since 1974. This training program became a full-time project in 1976 with funding from the Illinois Law Enforcement Commission. We were then called Region 12. On January 1, 1983 the Illinois Local Government Law Enforcement Officers Training Board received a grant from the law enforcement commission to continue the operations of the training program for six months. On July 1, 1983 the program became funded in full by the state of Illinois through the traffic surcharge fund and was titled a statewide system of in-service training (A.S.S.I.S.T) the Law and Justice Commission, as part of the A.S.S.I.S.T program, is known as Mobile Team Unit #8.
The Law and Justice Commission, Mobile Training Unit #8 exists for the purpose of providing its members with up to date, high quality, cost effective training programs and criminal justice related information with an emphasis on member service and satisfaction.
Mobile team #8 services a four county area covering 3,826 square miles. The area is primarily rural with the exceptions of the Bloomington/Normal urban character. This service area also contains two universities and two state correctional centers, each providing unique law enforcement problems in their respective communities. Unemployment generally is lower than state averages due to the agricultural and insurance based economy.
The commission receives financial and physical support from 38 law enforcement and law enforcement associated agencies within the region. To date, 38 agencies contribute towards the local cash match on the basis of $95.00 per officer/employee, with a minimum of $95.00 per agency.