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 Champaign Police Department in August 2015 and exposes the corruption, misconduct, and incompetence of public entities in Champaign County.
“It’s the kind of story you read in the news and wow, that must be a backwards town, and it is happening right here, and it really breaks my heart,” said Buch.
Buch tearfully expressed her hope that the issues raised could be addressed through better training. “That’s why you treat people with dignity and respect before things get out of hand,” said Buch, full of emotion.
Champaign Human Relations Commission member, Kenton Elmore, also provided input during the public participation session, calling for transparency in police and community relations.
“Transparency is incredibly important and these things can be very, very difficult to talk about. It can be very hard for the city to engage with community in situations like this,” says Elmore.
Instead of addressing residents’ concerns about police misconduct and the lack of transparency, Council member Clarissa Nickerson Fourman responded by stating how appalled she was that “everybody goes up in arms” because it was a white person that had complained.
“I don’t disregard whatever Mr. Hansen went through but straight up, cry me a river,” said Fourman.
“If I had a dollar for every time somebody had an issue, who was African-American, felt they were mistreated by the police, mistreated by Champaign County Jail, you know, I would be a billionaire sitting up here today,” added Fourman.
According to Fourman, African-Americans complain about the treatment by the police daily. “I want that same gungho-ness, that same upset, I want all that to be the same for everybody that complains about the police department because it is not just one person’s experience that happens like that,” says Fourman.
Despite just declaring that she has to constantly deal with complaints of police mistreatment, Fourman proceeded to defend the Champaign Police Department, saying that they “have done a really good job and at least since I’ve been on Council, I can’t speak before that, of recognizing when they do something wrong, recognizing when they’ve made a mistake, and trying to come out and be transparent about it.”
Fourman also denied that the City of Champaign had problems with transparency.