After several months of criticism from engaged residents, members of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) are finally beginning to realize what everyone else has been saying: the CPRB is broken. At the January 22nd, 2020 CPRB meeting, founding member Scott Dossett did not mince words. “We are negligent…
On January 22, 2020, the Urbana Civilian Review Board met to review a recent Taser discharge and continue the discussion initiated at the last meeting regarding the citizen complaint process. Ricardo Diaz, Scott Dossett, Mikhail Lyubansky, Darius White, and Darrell Price formed the quorum. Chairperson Grace Mitchell and Megan McGinty…
Urbana City Council meetings ran long on November 25th and December 2nd of 2019 as a result of discussion on one particular agenda item: armed “school resource officers” in Urbana schools. At both meetings, members of the public, Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin, and Council members spoke at length. The…
At the October 23rd, 2019 meeting of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB), it was revealed that board members had not been receiving copies of citizen police complaints for the past several years. Apparently, the Urbana Police Department simply stopped issuing copies to the board, and neither City staff…
The 2019 October 23rd meeting of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) was a treasure of revelations about the shortcomings and failures of not just the CPRB ordinance itself, but also the Urbana City staff that have been manipulating the process. At the meeting, one mind-blowing realization was that…
On October 23rd 2019, citizens spoke at the Urbana Citizen Police Review Board (CPRB) meeting, questioning its efficacy, and more specifically, how city staff handle the process. Of particular note, board members heard complaints about Human Resources Director Todd Rent, who has repeatedly refused to deliver public records to complainants.…
The Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) met on October 23, 2019 with only four of the seven members present. Mikhail Lyubansky, Ricardo Diaz, Darrell Price, and new board member Darius White were in attendance, forming the quorum. After council’s approval of minutes for the July 24th meeting (article here),…
At the July 24th, 2019 meeting of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (article here), founding member Scott Dosset called for a “special meeting” to discuss police Taser policy and reviews. The controversy which led to this request began when Urbana Police Lt. Richard Surles announced that the Police Department…
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…
