OUTSIDE THE CITY LIMITS: HOT PURSUIT IN ILLINOIS

When you saw the siren, you panicked. You knew you were near the city limits or the state border and you thought if you crossed it, the police would have to stop just like in the movies.

Can police follow you across jurisdictional lines? For the most part, they can although the rules for out of state and in-state police are somewhat different.

Police from outside Illinois have the same authority to arrest you inside Illinois as an Illinois officer if they are in hot pursuit. (725 ILCS 5/107-4). Hot pursuit is defined as the immediate pursuit of a suspect who is avoiding arrest. The officer need not have you in view the entire time, but must have uninterrupted knowledge of your whereabouts and must proceed without unreasonable delay. The officer’s jurisdiction must share a border with the place where you fled.

Once arrested, the officer must bring you before the circuit court in the county where you were arrested in order to determine whether the arrest was lawful.

Inside Illinois, police may arrest you anywhere in the state for a crime committed inside their jurisdiction. (725 ILCS 5/107-5). Illinois case law has held that police may make an arrest in an adjoining jurisdiction where the officer has probable cause to believe that the accused committed an offense in the officer’s jurisdiction.

This is true even though the officer merely entered the adjoining jurisdiction because of some suspicious activity and was not then in fresh pursuit of the offender. People v Carraher.

Police, however, cannot arrest you for a crime committed outside their jurisdiction. A recent Illinois case held that Chicago police could not arrest a Maywood defendant where the criminal act, police surveillance, search and arrest all took place in Maywood. People v Harrell.

If you have questions about this or another related criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)