Did the Cook County Clerk’s Office Mail Your Expungement or Sealing Order to the Illinois State Police? Maybe Not

In recent months it has come to my attention that Cook County expungement and sealing orders, in some instances, have not been sent to the Illinois State Police (ISP) for processing.

While it is the responsibility of the Cook County Clerk’s Office to mail out copies of these orders to the ISP, you (as the petitioner) do not get notice when these orders are mailed.

Unfortunately, the only way most petitioners learn that these orders were not mailed is when they realize they’ve never heard from the ISP that their orders were processed. The most recent example of this was brought to my attention last week.

This past May a client had petitions to seal and expunge granted. Because she was set to begin a health care internship in late August, it was critical that her court orders be processed before the internship started. If the orders weren’t processed in time, my client couldn’t do her internship.

With the deadline fast approaching, my client underwent a criminal background check. The background check revealed that none of her court orders had been processed yet.

Believing that the 60-day processing period should have elapsed, I contacted the ISP to check on the status of my client’s orders. It was then I learned the ISP never received them.

The ISP representative kindly requested that I send her copies of the orders. The following day, I was informed that the orders had been processed – much to my client’s relief … and delight.

I share this story because this is the third or fourth time this year this has happened to a client. There is no way to know if this is an office-wide (all the orders in question involved Chicago cases) or simply a quality control/training issue.

What I can say is if getting your record sealed or expunged is time-sensitive and you are running up against a firm deadline, I recommend you contact the ISP and confirm that your orders were received.

Please don’t contact the ISP unless you are certain at least 60 days has passed since the judge signed the order and you have not received a letter from the ISP.

Because orders are not mailed out immediately, you need to add an additional 5-10 days from the date the order is signed to account for the delay in mailing and mail delivery – in other words, 65-70 days.

In writing this blog, it is not my intention to unnecessarily alarm those who’ve petitioned to expunge or seal criminal records in Cook County. Rather, it is to remind you that if you haven’t gotten a letter from the ISP, you need to look into why not.