STATE OF ILL. SEES DECREASE

Throughout the past year the state of Illinois has seen a decrease in
crime by 3.1 percent, and continues to decline according to recently
released 2005 crime statistics by the Illinois State Police.

The murder rate declined for the fourth consecutive year and theft
was down by the largest margin since 1999. The Illinois state police
attribute this decline to the state government's providing of the
resources and manpower our law enforcement needs in order for this to happen.

A reported 473,834 crimes were committed within the last year in
Illinois. In 2004 the number was 486,496, nearly 13,000 less than
what was committed in 2005.

Robbery, burglary, arson, sexual assault, aggravated assault and
battery were all crimes that increased over the last year, none by
more than five percent.

"Larceny, or theft, is the one crime that is most dealt with by every
law enforcement agency in the nation." ISU Police Chief Ronald Swan, said.

Within the past year theft has decreased by 5.2 percent.

"Crime statistics fluctuate, theft is always going to be the
highest," Swan added.

"Here in Normal the amount of thefts rose in the past year from 996
in 2004 to 1,051 in 2005. Theft is a 'crime of opportunity,'" Normal
Police Department Assistant Chief Rick Bleichner said.

Theft is a crime that can be deterred in most cases by taking some
simple precautionary measures. Locking car doors and not leaving
valuables in the vehicle in plain site are two simple measures that
can be taken by everyone to not give someone that 'opportunity' to
steal something from you.

According to the report the methamphetamine market is one of the most
dangerous and rapidly growing illegal drug trades in Illinois.

The Illinois Meth Response Teams have handled a total of 559
methamphetamine related incidents, made 513 arrests and seized 34,000
grams of drugs. These teams have helped many local law enforcement
drug task forces by easing the burden of investigating and
confiscating this dangerous drug.

"Most of the time these labs are very unstable. The ingredients
aren't marked, and if you do not know what you are doing they can be
very dangerous," Lt. Lincoln Hampton of the Illinois State Police,
said. The report also said most of the illegal guns that come into
Illinois are from Indiana and Mississippi, more than any other states.

"We are working with the Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
commission on tracking where guns that have been used to commit
violent crime have originated from," Hampton said.

"Mississippi and Indiana do not have laws that are as strict as the
laws in Illinois for obtaining a weapon. We feel that if we can
locate the sources of where these illegal weapons are coming from we
can improve our situation," Hampton added. There have been efforts
with federal authorities and law enforcement agencies, both in state
and out-of-state, that have tried to find and stop the illegal
trafficking of guns into the state. Since these efforts, 2,000
firearms have been seized as well as more than 300 arrests for gun
related charges.