At the May 18th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting, Bill Brown finally called for some governmental review of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) after more than a month of complaints from engaged residents. Criticisms of the CPRB have been nearly endless, but Brown focused in on the claim…
On May 27th, 2020, Assistant Illinois Attorney General Matt Hartman issued a letter to Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin requesting information about alleged Open Meetings Act violations that occurred on March 23rd (CU-Underground first covered this incident in an article here). Hartman determined that an investigation was warranted after an Urbana…
After concerned residents issued complaints and concerns about Urbana Police Department misconduct for the sixth City Council meeting in a row, Council members are finally show some movement, if only an inch. At the May 18th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting , Council member Bill Brown called for a review…
In the wake of public outrage over a recent violent arrest video, a group of Urbana residents have accomplished in a weekend what police oversight advocates and police review boards have failed to do for decades: public outreach. The website www.UrbanaPolice.com was launched on May 17, 2020 as a civilian…
In a remarkable determination letter issued on May 13th, 2020, Urbana City Attorney James Simon has declared that City employees are not bound by Urbana’s own anti-discrimination laws. Simon issued the letter in response to a complaint submitted to the Urbana Human Relations Commission which alleged that the a City…
At the May 4th, 2020 meeting of the Urbana City Council, residents showed up in force once again to voice their complaints about the Urbana Police Department following a violent arrest of an unarmed woman. Rather than being met with open arms by their elected officials, Shirese Hursey and others…
Mayor Diane Wolfe Marlin issued an update at the May 11th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting regarding the Aleyah Lewis incident. Her update was the latest attempt by the city to appease outraged citizens. On April 10th, 2020, Urbana Police Officers carrying rifles physically attacked an unarmed Aleyah Lewis (article…
After months of residents criticizing the failures of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB), and amidst a barrage of Urbana Police misconduct allegations following a violent arrest video which went viral on social media, a new Chair was quietly assigned to the CPRB. Previously chaired by Grace Mitchell, who…
Citizens were outraged, and at least one Urbana Council member left speechless, after Council member Shirese Hursey placed full blame for the violent arrest of Aleyah Lewis (original article here) squarely on Lewis herself. Hursey’s monologue was delivered at the May 4th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting, immediately after 20…
On May 5th, 2020, Mayor Diane Marlin announced that she will be accepting applications for a vacant seat on Urbana’s Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB). Grace Mitchell, the Chair of the CPRB, and a member of the group since its founding in 2007, has resigned her position after widespread criticism…
