Robert T. Johnson
— Lt. Colonel (Ret) - Illinois State Police

Robert T. Johnson Biography

Robert T. Johnson is a retired law enforcement veteran with thirty-two (32) years of active service and 50 years in the law enforcement field. He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Illinois State Police. He continues to serve as a private consultant and expert witness regarding law enforcement policies and practices as well as conducting sensitive internal investigations. Johnson has been retained in approximately 200 cases and has been qualified in State and Federal courts. He most frequently is retained in cases involving use of force, OIS, unlawful arrest allegations and pursuits. He serves as an Assessor (Team Leader) for the Commission for the Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) and has conducted thirty-five CALEA assessments of law enforcement agencies nationwide seeking accreditation. He has also conducted Operational, Organization and/or Policy reviews for several agencies.

Johnson began his career as a patrolman for the Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, DC. Two years later he joined the Illinois State Police where he rose through the ranks, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel (1998) in charge of Region I (Chicago/Cook County), with over 600 employees under his command. Johnson managed a diverse workforce while overseeing the delivery of State Police services in one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas. Johnson has been instrumental in the creation and oversight of several investigative projects targeting firearms, gangs, drugs, auto theft, and state program fraud. Johnson created the Public Integrity Task Force (Cook County, IL — the nation's second largest county) to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct by police officers and government officials as well as uses of deadly force and in-custody deaths. This task force has investigated virtually all police officer involved shootings in Cook County (excluding Chicago) since its inception in 1996.

After retiring from the Illinois State Police, Johnson served as the Inspector/Director of Police (Western Region) for the National Passenger Railroad Corporation (Amtrak). He was responsible for Amtrak Police Department (APD) operations in thirty states overseeing the Chicago, Indianapolis (Beech Grove), New Orleans, Los Angeles and San Francisco field offices. Johnson served on the APD Use of Force Review Committee, reviewing all APD uses of force nationwide. He also chaired the APD Training Committee with oversight for the defensive tactics and firearms training subcommittees. 

Johnson has extensive experience in police administration, management and supervision, strategic planning, budgeting, policy development, collective bargaining, criminal investigations, patrol procedures, complaint/internal investigations and task force operations. Johnson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from St. Joseph's College (Rensselaer, IN) and has done graduate level work in criminal justice. Johnson has attended numerous law enforcement courses covering a wide array of topics including management programs conducted by the Northwestern University Traffic Institute, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Michigan State University and the Illinois State Police. He has also attended numerous courses and seminars regarding use of force, police pursuits. Johnson has been certified by the Force Science Research Center (FSRC) in analysis of the fundamentals of human dynamics involved in use of force incidents, Officer-Involved shootings and high-speed pursuits such as human behavior and memory under extreme stress. He has also been trained by the FSRC regarding the functionality of Video Camera and Body-Worn Cameras (BWC's) and the potential differences between human performance and electronically recorded images. Johnson has also been certified by the Americans for Effective Law Enforcement (AELE) as a litigation specialist.