At the September 21st, 2020 Urbana City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, Mayor Diane Marlin put forward an ordinance amending Urbana City Code, Chapter 2, Section 2-4 (Public Comment During Public Meetings). Marlin’s proposed ordinance came following her new rules for public input during the September 14th, 2020 Urbana…
There has been a wave of resignations by Mayor Diane Marlin’s appointees to the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) in the past few months. During the CPRB meeting on September 3rd, 2020, Chair Ricardo Diaz announced that board member Megan McGinty had resigned from the board. McGinty’s resignation came…
Nearly five months after the violent arrest of Urbana resident Aleyah Lewis, Chicago firm Hillard Heintze has cleared the officers involved of all misconduct. On April 10, 2020, Urbana Police officers arrested Lewis (video and original article here). Following the incident, Urbana Police Department (UPD) performed an internal review of…
On Tuesday September 3rd, 2020 the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) held another special meeting for training purposes. Dr. Michael Schlosser of the University of Illinois Police Training Institute returned to give a presentation on de-escalation. Schlosser was previously criticized by CPRB members and members of the public after…
After the removal of Grace Mitchell from the Chair position of the Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB), Urbana residents had high hopes that the new leader of the board, Professor Mikhail Lyubansky would be able to turn things around. The CPRB had fallen into a decade-long state of dysfunction and…
On Monday August 3rd, 2020, Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin put forth an appointment for the City Council seat left vacant by Eric Jakobsson’s early resignation. According to Marlin, four residents applied for the Ward 2 seat, but only two of those applicants qualified based on the residency requirements: trivia host…
On July 29th, 2020 the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) held a special meeting to undergo “use of force training”. The training was administered by Dr. Michael Schlosser from the University of Illinois Police Training Institute in the form of a slideshow presentation. CPRB members, as well as members…
In the past few months, the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) has been in the spotlight amidst discussions of police misconduct and police reform. Residents have criticized the failures of the CPRB, most notably the board failing to follow their mandates as written in the City Ordinance (article here).…
On April 10, 2020, Urbana Police officers violently arrested and beat an innocent woman, Urbana resident Aleyah Lewis (video and original article here). Following the incident, Urbana Police Department (UPD) performed an internal investigation of the incident and concluded that the actions of the officers were within UPD policy and…
After more than two months of public criticism of the Urbana Police Department at weekly City Council meetings, another recipient of significant criticism, the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB), finally hosted its first meeting in five months. On June 24th, 2020, the CPRB held a special meeting to discuss…