A new Illinois Lottery scratch-off game will provide resources to help fund police memorials, programs for the families of officers killed or severely injured in the line of duty, and protective vest replacements for officers.
House Bill 5513 creates the police memorial instant ticket and requires that net proceeds go to the Criminal Justice Information Projects Fund. The funds are then to be divided equally among the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation Fund, the Police Memorial Committee Fund, and the Illinois State Police Memorial Fund. These three funds provide support to families of officers who have been killed or severely injured in the line of duty.
The funds raised through this new scratch-off ticket will be used to build and maintain police memorials and parks, hold annual memorial commemorations, give scholarships to children of officers killed or severely injured in the line of duty, provide financial assistance to police officers and their families when a police officer is killed or injured in the line of duty, and provide financial assistance to officers to purchase or replace protective gear.