Grace Mitchell, the Chair of the Urbana Civilian Police Board (CPRB), make a remarkable proclamation at the September 25th, 2019 CPRB meeting: review fewer Taser usages. The reason appears to be that they simply aren’t exciting enough. Mitchel said: “We don’t have to see all or so many, maybe we…
On September 25, 2019, the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) met (only audio recording is made available to the public) to continue the discussion of the Urbana Police Department (UPD) Taser Utilization and Taser Policy. Specifically, UPD had decided independently without consultation with CPRB to phase out the use…
On August 8th 2019, a special meeting of the Champaign Citizen Review Subcommittee (CRS) was convened with one specific agenda item: open discussion with Chief Cobb about the CRS’s recommendations for changes to the police complaint process. The Champaign Police Department has long been regarded as corrupt, racist, and violent,…
On July 24, 2019 Urbana Police Lieutenant Richard H Surles surprised the members of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) by announcing that the Department will no longer use Taser-mounted cameras during use of force incidents. The decision would seem to violate the CPRB Ordinance which makes it mandatory…
Meetings of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) often have more interesting revelations about the board members themselves than of the content of their review process. At the July 24th, 2019 CPRB Meeting, 10-year board member and founding member Scott Dossett made the bizarre claim that the CPRB is…
On July 24, 2019, the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) meeting took place after a series of cancelled and rescheduled meetings since October 24, 2018. The meeting started with a staff report by Urbana Community Relations Specialist, Preston James. Since the last meeting, the city has received 4 citizen…
On May 8th 2019, several citizens attended the Champaign Citizen Review Subcommittee (CRS) meeting to voice their grievances with the Champaign Police Department’s handling of citizen complaints. The CPD has had a complaint procedure for decades, but due to repeated issues with officer misconduct and corruption within Champaign’s department, the…
At the Champaign City Council meeting on January 8, 2019, long time Urbana resident, Tamara Buch raised concerns about the false arrest of Christopher Hansen and his mistreatment by Champaign Police Officers and Champaign County Jail Correctional Officers. Hansen’s open letter, published on CorruptCU.com details his false arrest by the…
A citizen has forwarded an email exchange with Champaign Assistant City Attorney Laura Jayne Hall, wherein Hall attempts to creatively explain why Champaign City staff delete emails after just one year. The citizen had submitted a Freedom of Information Act request in November of 2018, but received only a limited…
At the April 23rd, 2018 Urbana City Council meeting, Urbana Police Officer Preston James revealed a project he had been working on for some time. James presented to the Council a video titled “Perspective: Insights of a Traffic Stop”, which shows two different outcomes of an identical traffic stop, based…
