Regional law enforcement training held in Chester
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ On Tuesday, February 15, regional law enforcement officers attended a training seminar at Reid's Harvest House in Chester. In attendance was law enforcement officers from the Chester Police Department, Randolph County Sherrif's Office, Department of Corrections, Coulterville Police Department, and Washington County.
The training was sponsored by the Southwestern Illinois Law Enforcement Commission. Kevin Burke, Attorney at Law, was the guest speaker. During the training, Burke touched on many aspects of law enforcement such as statutes affecting search and seizure, interviews and interrogations, and identification procedures, as well as the recent changes in the Illinois Criminal Code, Cannabis Control Act, and Controlled Substances Act.
Chester Chief of Police Ryan Coffey commented that training is not common in the Randolph County area, most of the time law enforcement officers must travel out of county to receive training of this sort.
Coffey hopes that with the help of Roger Richardson, Director of the Southwestern Illinois Law Enforcement Commission, that they can try to get more training down this way, and make training more accessible to law enforcement officers in our area.
"One of our goals is to take this training to each of our counties," stated Richardson.
He also mentioned that he spoke with Chief Coffey about the possibility of another class, but a date has not been set in stone.