Chicago Firm Hillard Heintze Selected to Perform Investigation of Violent Urbana Arrest

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 procedure (article here).

Since the incident, residents have voiced their concerns at the actions of the Urbana Police officers. Members of the community have called for an independent review of the incident.

During the June 22, 2020 City Council meeting, Urbana Mayor Diane Wolfe Marlin announced that the she had signed a contract with Hillard Heintze, a Chicago-based law enforcement consulting firm, to perform a review of the police interaction with Aleyah Lewis.

The scope of investigation is as follows:

• Prepare an Independent Review of the internal UPD examination of the April 10 incident. Company will provide a review of the administrative sufficiency of the process in accordance with the applicable policies and procedures of the UPD.
• Request, receive and review documentation and reports, including the internal examination of the incident, and any other reports or data developed by the UPD, including video footage in relation to the Incident and the internal UPD examination. This request will include any public report available and released by the Champaign County State’s Attorney relative to decisions made.
• Assess applicable UPD operational and tactical practices, supervision, policies and procedures relevant to the Independent Review. We anticipate that this will require interviews with internal subject-matter experts, policy review and benchmarking against law enforcement standards.
• Seek to engage community stakeholders regarding their perception and expectation of the UPD regarding use of force. We will reach out to key community stakeholders as identified by the City and UPD and other community stakeholders as time and resources permit.
• Attempt to interview the individual who posted a video of the Incident to address unattributed claims that one or more Urbana police officers asked him to remove the video from social media.
• Conduct 10 civilian interviews and/or virtual focus group sessions. UPD interviews will be conducted with UPD employees responsible for setting and implementing policy and/or training. Combined, we anticipate no more than 16 interviews.

The investigation is scheduled to be completed by July 31, 2020 and a presentation will be made to City Council.

According to Marlin, one of key criteria for selecting Hillard Heintze was the firm’s ability to perform interviews with community members and council members. Two other firms were considered in the selection process: University of Illinois Police Training Institute, Champaign, IL, and Legal and Liability Risk Management Institute, Plainfield, IN.

The firm would provide the scope of work listed at an estimated cost of $16,575 to the City of Urbana, not including expenses incurred. Expenses including but not limited to travel, postage and courier services, printing, graphic support, and binding/assembly will be billed as incurred. Additions to the scope of work including additional interviews and additional services will be billed at $195 per hour.

The selection process was conducted internally by City staff and Mayor Marlin. The decision to contract with Hillard Heintze did not go through a vote by City Council.

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