On June 24, 1921, the 52nd General Assembly of the State of Illinois authorized the Department of Public Works and Buildings to hire a "sufficient number of State Highway Patrol Officers to enforce the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Laws." This new group of law enforcement officers were known as the State Highway Maintenance Police.

The Illinois State Police was officially created in 1922 and the primary function of the agency was the protection of the roads from damage by overweight vehicles. In 1927, the first patrol cars (Chrysler coupes) were purchased and issued only to Sergeants as they were deemed to be District Commanders.

Troopers patrolled on motorcycle. In 1930, the Chryslers were replaced by Ford Model A's. 1948 saw a temporary end to the use of motorcycles for patrol. In 1967, the black and white patrol cars were replaced with a basic beige color scheme. In 1977, a reorganization took place within the ISP and left it with 5 Divisions: State Police, Criminal Investigation, Internal Investigation, Support Services and Administration Additionally, each division within the Illinois State Police provides specific services.

The Division of Operations' services entail: aircraft support for enforcement and public assistance; vehicle investigations; underwater search and recovery operations; K-9 support for tracking and drug detection; presentations to the public on traffic safety and crime prevention; criminal investigations to detect and suppress the traffic of illicit drugs; develop strategic and tactical criminal intelligence data; investigate serious offenses; and apprehend fugitives.

Operations also provides support to many county, municipal and federal law enforcement agencies. Today, the ISP is comprised of sworn personnel and civilians totaling more than 3,000, and is one of the most modern and efficient police organizations in the USA.

License plates used on Illinois State Police vehicles have transcended from regular passenger car license plates, to municipal coded plates, to state coded plates to titled plates from the earliest years until the late 1960's. Titled plates have been used on marked and some unmarked ISP vehicles since 1968.

License Plates of the Illinois State Police

From the early days of patrol car and motorcycle use, the Illinois State Highway Patrol and Illinois State Highway Maintenance Police used standard passenger car and motorcycle license plates from 1921 and at least until 1939 as pictured on the car below. There were no known reserved number blocs on those types.

Although there is no solid confirmation, it is believed that in 1940, the ISP fleet began registering their patrol vehicles with M-prefixed municipal exempt license plates in lieu of the standard passenger car license plates which had been used on ISP vehicles since the 1920's.
The M prefix plates were used on ISP patrol vehicles as well as municipal government vehicles such as those registered to Chicago PD.
These M-prefixed plates were issued in no particular reserved bloc, however photographic records seem to indicate that the higher number blocs (M 7000 to M 10000 blocs) were seen used on ISP vehicles of that period.

From 1943 until 1948, general issue license plates in Illinois were made of fiberboard known as "soybean". This material was used to help conserve metal for the war effort despite the war ending in 1945.
The 1943 and 1944 M-prefixed license plates however were made of embossed steel as with previous issues instead of using the weaker fiberboard material. The 1945 M-prefixed license plates were made of the fibreboard material as was the 1947 plate. There is currently no known 1946 example on record. The 1948 M-prefixed license plates were made of embossed steel.

1946: There are no known M-prefixed licensed plates, however the color scheme and format would likely be white ovr maroon fibreboard. Approx. 5 1/2" X 11 1/4" with an M prefix followed by four numbers mostly in the 7000 to 9000 and possibly into the 10000 number bloc.

In 1968, the Illinois State Police began issuing ISP-titled license plates for its fleet. The plate was deemed to be used for two years at a time. The 1968/1969 issue was made of aluminum and all others until the 1980/1981 issue were made of thin and later thicker steel.
The plate had the embossed word STATE running as a vertical stack down the left side of the plate and POLICE running as a vertical stack down the right side of the plate.
The first issue has 68 ILLINOIS 69 embossed along the top of the plate and LAND OF LINCOLN embossed along the bottom.
All subsequent issues had the state motto embossed along the top and the state name and years embossed along the bottom.
The colors used were brown over reflective white.
The numbering system used was based on patrol districts and special sections within the ISP followed by a hyphen and assignment numbers. The lower the assignment number, the higher the rank.
The initial district numbers at this time are as follows:
1: STERLING
2: ELGIN
3: DES PLAINES (now district C: Cook/Chicago)
4: BLUE ISLAND (no longer a District 4 for ISP)
5: JOLIET (now Lockport)
6: PONTIAC
7: ROCK ISLAND (now East Moline)
8: PEORIA (now Metamora)
9: SPRINGFIELD
10: (appears on plate as X as not to be confused with radio 10 codes) PESOTUM
11: MARYVILLE (now Collinsville)
12: EFFINGHAM
13: DUQUOIM
14 MACOMB
15: OAK BROOK (now Downers Grove/Tollway)
16:PECATONICA
17: LASALLE
18: LITCHFIELD
19: CARMI
20: PITTSFIELD
21: ASHKUM
22: ULLIN
District number 25 is for the Criminal Investigation District out of Springfield.
Some ISP vehicles use a special section prefix letter based on the vehicle assignment followed by a dash and the vehicle or district number. Some known types are:
A (Administration)
B (Equipment/Quartermaster)
D (District Command personnel)
E (Executive Security/Governor's Office)
O (Operations Section- Air/K-9 etc)
R (Radio/Communications personnel)
S (Information and Education officers)
T (Training/Academy personnel)
V (Auto Theft Investigators)

These "biennial" plates as they were known, were highly-prone to rust and cracking in the reflective sheeting. Most of these plates found today are not in good condition if they had been in use.

In January of 1982, the Illinois State Police put an end to the biennial license plates and began to issue embossed aluminum Permanent license plates.
These plates had the same layout and color as the previous biennial plates, however a letter P was situated to the right of the state name along the bottom of the plate.
In the Fall of 1987, the ISP license plates were made of steel to provide more service longevity, as the aluminum plates were prone to fading and discoloration. Later issues utilized a more square die for the state name as can be seen in the comparative photo shown further below.

2022 marked the 100th Anniversary of the Illinois State Police. The ISP introduced a spectacular graphic license plate to celebrate the Centennial milestone.
The 100th Anniversary license plates featured a black silhouette of two saluting ISP Troopers overseeing a landscape of ubiquitous Illinois landscape along the entire bottom of the the plate itself with LAND OF LINCOLN inscribed in the reflective cream color of the background of the license plate itself.
The top band of the license plate that spans across the two upper mounting holes has the inscription ILLINOIS STATE POLICE in the background reflective cream color over the black band.
The assignment number is embossed in very small dies and painted in green. To the right of the assignment number is a retrospective design of the ISP emblem in state shape with INTEGRITY-SERVICE-PRIDE inscribed on the lower section of the motif.

Illinois State Police Special Type Plates

Provided here are images of different Special Section and other types of license plates issued and used by the Illinois State Police

In the late 1980's to early 1990's, the Illinois State Police commenced a recognition program for ISP troopers who recovered stolen motor vehicles. The program was similar to the ACE (Aggressive Criminal Enforcement)/ Blue Max programs spearheaded by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Louisiana State Police.

An ISP trooper would earn a star decal to affix to his patrol car for every stolen vehicle he/she would recover. The trooper with the highest recovery rate for the calendar year would become the recipient of the Golden Eagle Award.

Part of the esteem that went with this achievement was to receive the Golden Eagle Award license plate which the trooper would be allowed to run on his/her patrol vehicle into the next year.

The plate was similar in layout to a contemporary passenger license plate with the state name in blue silkscreened lower case letters in the upper left corner situated just below the upper left mounting hole. The state motto Land of Lincoln was also in blue silkscreened letters in both upper and lower case font situated just below the upper right mounting hole. The state name and state motto rested on three blue silkscreened lines which traveresed the span of the plate from left to right. The center of the plate was dominated by a silkscreened gold and black circular seal. The center of the seal was silkscreened in red with a white silhouette of the state. A bald eagle in gold white and black occupies the middle of the seal with wings and talons outstretched. The words GOLDEN EAGLE AWARD occupy the lower circumference of the inner portion of the seal in black. The word STATE is silkscreened in red and stacked vertical on the left side of the plate and the word POLICE is also silkscreened in red and stacked vertical on the right side of the plate.
It is believed that this award is no longer issued.

Motorcycle License Plates used by Illinois State Police

As stated in the introduction, the earliest patrol activity conducted by the IHP and the ISP was on motorcycle. There were no special issue license plates known to have been issued for IHP/ISP motorcycles.
More recently, ISP motorcycle plates have been miniature versions of the larger permanent plates used on larger vehicles.
The plates are the current standard motorcycle size, and brown over reflective white. The state motto LAND OF LINCOLN is embossed on the top line and ILLNOIS P is embossed on the bottom line of the plate. The center of the plate is occupied by the prefix MP (Motor Patrol) followed by the assignment number. The vertically-stacked STATE and POLICE on the left and right margins of the plate are silkscreened, not embossed.

Illinois State Police Frames and Other Types