At the November 2nd, 2020 City Council Meeting, Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten pushed ahead with her plan to excluded certain types of complaints from the Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) appeal process. A week prior, Mitten presented an update on the status of CPRB complaints and appeals. She focused…
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 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…
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…
When the issue of submission requirements for police complaints arose during the June 3rd, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting, City staff demonstrated just how far they are willing to go to deceive the public and protect their friends. Wednesday’s meeting served as a “continuance” of Monday’s meeting. After nearly 3.5…
On June 3rd, 2020, the Chair of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) gave residents good reason to further question his ability to serve in his newly assigned position. When questioned about the board’s decision to stop reviewing all Taser usages, Chair Mikhail Lyubansky gave an incoherent explanation that,…
At the June 1st, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting, the Council and the public spent hours speaking about local police misconduct issues. Most commentary focused on the violent arrest of Urbana resident Aleyah Lewis in April, and on the broken status of the Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) which is…
At the May 18th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting, Bill Brown finally called for some governmental review of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) after more than a month of complaints from engaged residents. Criticisms of the CPRB have been nearly endless, but Brown focused in on the claim…
After concerned residents issued complaints and concerns about Urbana Police Department misconduct for the sixth City Council meeting in a row, Council members are finally show some movement, if only an inch. At the May 18th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting , Council member Bill Brown called for a review…
