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State Police Making Some Budget Cuts
(IRN)-Illinois State Police interim director Patrick Keen says his department will be adversely affected by climbing gas prices, but he's not asking for extra money to offset the change… yet.

The department is asking for roughly $402 million next fiscal year, which is slightly less than it was promised this year.

Keen says his budget was crafted based on gas prices hovering around $3.35 a gallon. "Obviously we're above that today, and it seems that if that's going to continue… the prices are going to be high, so it's going to have an impact on us."

Keen says highway patrol officers, who make up the majority of the entire police force, will likely be asked to sit in highway medians with their engines shut off for as many as 15 minutes every hour, which was a tactic used in 2008.

One area where Keen will not cut back, however, is trooper salaries.
New officers earn a little more than $54,000 a year, which is between $14,000 and $20,000 higher than neighboring states. State Senator Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) asked Keen how the department came up with that salary level.

"Of the states that you mentioned, Illinois is the only one that has a bachelor's degree requirement for hiring," explained Keen. "In order to attract those qualified individuals, our salaries have grown. Starting salaries are also the result of collective bargaining."

Keen made his comments before a Senate appropriations committee in Springfield.

(Source: Illinois Radio Network)
03 31 11 by Newsroom
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