To get LEADS certification in Illinois, you have to be sponsored by a LEADS terminal agency, clear a fingerprint-based state and national background check, and then complete the training and exam for your access level through the nexTEST platform at illinois.cjisapps.com. You cannot enroll yourself as a member of the public. Certification is tied to a specific agency and a specific access level, and it lasts two years.
Who Has to Be Certified
Certification is not just for sworn officers. The Illinois Administrative Code requires it for every person at a LEADS agency who has full access or less-than-full access to system functions, regardless of how often they log in.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Title 20, Part 1240 That covers terminal operators, dispatchers, records clerks, programmers, and IT staff who can reach LEADS or NCIC data. A December 2025 ISP bulletin confirmed the requirement also reaches IT contractors and vendor employees who manage or access FBI CJIS systems.2Illinois State Police. LEADS Daily Bulletin December 29, 2025
If you don’t work for a criminal justice agency, an entity under the management control of one, or an approved governmental consolidated dispatch center, you can’t get full access certification at all. The agency has to qualify first, and only then can its personnel be certified.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Title 20, Part 1240
Start With Your Agency’s LEADS Agency Coordinator
Every LEADS terminal agency appoints a LEADS Agency Coordinator, or LAC. The LAC is the person who enrolls users, tracks their certifications, confirms background checks are on file, and handles all LEADS correspondence with the Illinois State Police. Before an agency can even submit new access applications for its users, the LAC’s own certification has to be current.3Illinois State Police. LEADS Application Forms Checklist
So the first practical step, whether you’re a new hire or moving into a role that needs system access, is to identify your LAC and ask them to add you. They control the paperwork and your nexTEST account.
Background Check and Disqualifiers
Before you’re allowed to touch the system, your agency has to run a criminal history check. The Illinois Administrative Code requires both state and national fingerprint-based checks through the ISP Bureau of Identification for every person with direct access to LEADS, no matter how limited that access will be.4Cornell Law Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 20, Section 1240.50 – LEADS Access Security
Two things will block you outright:
- A felony conviction in any jurisdiction.
- A conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude, meaning dishonesty, fraud, or similar conduct.
Even a pending felony or moral turpitude charge can result in access being denied while the case is unresolved.4Cornell Law Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 20, Section 1240.50 – LEADS Access Security Misdemeanor history isn’t an automatic bar; the federal CJIS Security Policy leaves that call to the authorizing official based on how serious the offenses were.5Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy – FBI.gov. CJIS Security Policy Version 6.0
Training and Testing Through nexTEST
All certification training and testing runs through nexTEST, the online platform hosted at illinois.cjisapps.com. Your LAC will get you set up with an account. From there, you complete two things:
- The LEADS certification module for your access level.
- A separate Security Awareness Training module.
Both have to be finished for the certification to count. Direct and indirect LEADS users take the Security Awareness Training inside nexTEST. Support staff such as janitorial and maintenance workers, along with IT personnel, complete their Security Awareness Training through a separate federal platform called CJIS Online. Either way, the training must be done within six months of initial assignment.6Illinois State Police. LEADS Agency Coordinator Training and Certification Guide
ISP also publishes supplemental LEADS 3.0 training materials in video and PDF format on its website, covering system navigation and specific record types like wanted persons, missing persons, vehicles, protection orders, identity theft, and gang records, plus validation procedures.7Illinois State Police. LEADS 3.0/CJIS Training These are meant to build practical familiarity before you sit for the exam. Use them.
Pick the Right Access Level
You’ll be certified for one specific track, matching your role and the access your agency has approved for you:
- Full Access, for personnel who need the broadest LEADS and NCIC functions, including entering records, running queries, and processing hit confirmations.
- Less Than Full Access, for query-only or narrower functions.
- Practitioner for Administrators, for personnel with administrative responsibilities in the system.
- Practitioner for Non-Administrators, for non-administrative practitioner roles.
Each level has its own curriculum and its own nexTEST exam, and your certification only covers the level you passed.6Illinois State Police. LEADS Agency Coordinator Training and Certification Guide Using system functions beyond what you’re certified for is treated as unauthorized access, so match the track to the work you’ll actually do.
Cost
There is no application or examination fee for LEADS certification. The LEADS Reference Manual prohibits agencies from charging fees for system access.8Illinois State Police. Illinois LEADS Reference Manual
The Two-Year Clock and Recertification
Certification is good for two years from the date you pass the exam. Expiration is calculated from that specific month and day, not from a universal renewal date across the state.8Illinois State Police. Illinois LEADS Reference Manual Recertification happens on the same nexTEST platform and covers system changes and policy updates from the previous cycle.
The important detail: recertify before the expiration date. If you let it lapse, you cannot take the shorter recertification course. You have to start over with the full initial certification program for your access level, which is substantially longer.8Illinois State Police. Illinois LEADS Reference Manual LACs are supposed to track expirations for their users, but keep your own date in mind too.
Staying Certified
The Illinois Administrative Code requires agencies to make sure every person with access continues to meet the personnel security standards, not just at initial certification.4Cornell Law Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 20, Section 1240.50 – LEADS Access Security If you pick up a felony charge after you’ve been certified, your access can be pulled while the case is pending. Federal CJIS rules add annual security awareness training on top of the two-year LEADS cycle, and additional training within 30 days of any security event involving the user.5Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy – FBI.gov. CJIS Security Policy Version 6.0
Agencies are audited on a triennial cycle by both the FBI CJIS Division and the state CSA, and those audits reach training records at the local level.9FBI. CJIS Security Policy – Formal Audits (Policy Area 11) Watch ISP bulletins as they come out; when the system changes, new training modules sometimes have to be completed before you can keep using new features, and the next recertification exam will cover whatever changed during your cycle.