Jennifer Cifaldi 1

Jennifer Cifaldi has served as the Illinois Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor since 2016 and is employed by the Univ. of Illinois, Springfield through a grant provided by the Illinois Department of Transportation. She is a nationally recognized expert and speaker on impaired driving. She has presented numerous times at various national conferences. She also serves on the Speaker’s Bureau for the National Marijuana Initiative and has trained thousands of officers, prosecutors, probation officers, victim advocates, and judges both in her state of Illinois and nationwide.

From 1996-2016, Jennifer served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Adams County States Attorney’s Office prosecuting tens of thousands of impaired driving cases. In 2007, Jennifer developed a DUI No-Refusal search warrant model that has now been adopted as the standard for law enforcement agencies and prosecutor offices across Illinois. She authored a manual on how to implement a “No-Refusal” program for prosecutors. Additionally, she is a regular instructor at Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement programs and at Drug Recognition Expert schools.

In the spring of 2018, with support from the Buffett Foundation, Jennifer implemented the Illinois Law Enforcement Phlebotomy Program (ILEPP). This training allows officers to perform blood draws on impaired drivers in a safe and efficient manner and alleviates the need to involve hospitals in their investigations. There are now over 25 officers in Illinois who are part of the ILEPP.

In 2016, Jennifer was the recipient of the National Traffic Safety Prosecutor of the Year award presented to her by the National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators. She was also the recipient of the MADD Hero award in 2011 for her work on prosecuting DUI cases. Additionally, she serves on the Illinois Impaired Driving Task Force Committee and the Illinois Traffic Records Coordinating Committee.