The sheriff of any county in Illinois with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants may hire court security officers in such number as the county board shall from time to time deem necessary. Court security officers may be designated by the Sheriff to attend courts and perform the functions set forth in Section 3-6023. Court security officers shall have the authority to arrest; however, such arrest powers shall be limited to performance of their official duties as court security officers. Court security officers may carry weapons, upon which they have been trained and qualified as permitted by law, at their place of employment and to and from their place of employment with the consent of the Sheriff. The court security officers shall be sworn officers of the Sheriff and shall be primarily responsible for the security of the courthouse and its courtrooms. The court security officers shall be under the sole control of the sheriff of the county in which they are hired. No court security officer shall be subject to the jurisdiction of a Sheriff’s Merit Commission unless the officer was hired through the Sheriff’s Merit Commission’s certified applicant process under § 3-8010 of the Counties Code. They are not regular appointed deputies under Section 3-6008. The position of court security officer shall not be considered a rank when seeking initial appointment as deputy sheriff under Section 3-8011.
     Every court security officer hired on or after June 1, 1997 (the effective date of Public Act 89-685) shall serve a probationary period of 12 months during which time they may be discharged at the will of the Sheriff.