On March 11, 2020, the Champaign Citizen Review Subcommittee (CRS) held a meeting, but board members had virtually nothing meaningful to say. Once again, the only item discussed during the open portion of the meeting was public input on how dysfunctional and ineffective the police complaint process is for victims of police misconduct.
For the past year, the CRS has had citizens appear and speak at every meeting, detailing their trials and tribulations with the police complaint process. The list of problems cited is nearly endless, and there have been numerous verified instances where legitimate citizen complaints have been quashed directly by Chief Anthony Cobb and his officers, as well as by city staff such as Community Relations Manager Rachel Joy and Assistant City Attorney Laura Hall. The mountain of evidence that the police complaint process is absolutely crushing and debilitating to citizens is uncontested by members of the CRS, as well as members of the Champaign Human Relations Commission who have been party to the same complaints.
Whereas previous meetings have shown CRS members receptive to citizen input to improve the process, it seems the board is now nearing a state of resentment and dysfunction. The one citizen who chose to speak during public input primarily took issue with the amount of time the complaint process takes, saying that her complaint has taken about a year so far. CRS Chair Emily Rodriguez only issued a passive response by instructing Community Relations Manager Rachel Joy to recite the board rules which allow for delaying complaints indefinitely.
CRS member Melissa Keeble issued no statement at all, Alexandra Harmon-Threatt did not attend the meeting, and Demario Turner’s only input was a superfluous comment about voting in the upcoming election. Committee member Desmon Walker, has been absent at all but one CRS meeting in the past eight months, only spoke to announce his resignation. Walker did not wish to commit the time to CRS duties and so he relinquished his chair.
Though CRS Chair Emily Rodriguez had previously asserted that the CRS would spend at least an hour every month discussing ways to improve the complaint process, the March 11 meeting lasted only 10 minutes.
Multiple engaged citizens have indicated that Ridriquez has stopped responding to emails about the Citizen Review Subcommittee, and the consensus is that Rodriguez has lost interest in the CRS since she started running her campaign for the District 8 seat of the Champaign County Board. If elected, Rodriguez will likely not be allowed to keep her position on the CRS. One citizen said that Rodriquez appears to be using her position in the CRS as a stepping-stone to her next political position.
Citizens have also criticized CRS board members for repeatedly praising and complimenting the Champaign Police Department and staff, even after being shown multiple verified instances of corruption relating to the very same police officers and staff. One citizen said that the Citizen Review Subcommittee “is just a rubber stamp for the Champaign Police Department”.