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 CPRB board members have not been receiving copies of any citizen complaints, apparently for the past several years. Board member Ricardo Diaz asked Human Resources Director Todd Edmund Rent:
“To be open about this, how much of that [the complaints] are we allowed to see as individual members? We used to be able to look at the complaints – is that still true?….I remember coming into the office and seeing the complaints.”
Todd Rent, a city staffer well-known for working to cover up and conceal the misconduct of city employees such as police officers, stumbled through a response:
“I’m trying to remember…so I think…after the expiration of the appeal process, or the appeal filing deadline, then I would imagine that, yeah, that should be something you should be able to come in and see.”
Rent probably had difficulty articulating a response because he was well-aware that he and his fellow staff members have long been in violation of the CPRB ordinance. The ordinance is very clear on this issue:
Urbana City Code Sec. 19-28(j): All complaints shall be submitted to the CPRB within seven (7) working days of the filing date.
In other words, Urbana City staff have been failing miserably at following the law. The other staff members involved in operating the CPRB include Human Relations Officer Vacellia Clark (who never attends meetings) , “Community Relations Specialist” Preston James, and Preston’s wife, Monique James, who holds the title “Executive Department Administrative Assistant”.
It is important to note that Preston James was actually an Urbana Police Officer who injured his knee in 2014, and it seems the City of Urbana invented for him the cushy and somewhat meaningless position of “Community Relations Specialist”. Preston’s wife Monique had already obtained a similarly meaningless staff position, “Executive Department Administrative Assistant”, likely invented specifically for her, since her husband was a UPD officer. To the chagrin of citizens who have been victims of police misconduct, the husband-wife team inserted themselves into administrative positions on the CPRB. This means that when citizens want to issue a police complaint, in addition to 1-2 other police officers, there is also a retired Urbana Police Officer posing as a regular City staff member, and a police officer’s wife sitting-in as well.
Preston James has been known to aid in the ‘stuffing’ of police complaints (so that they never reach the review board), proctor CPRB meetings in a way that favors police input, and cutoff citizens when they attempt to speak at meetings. Todd Edmund Rent, who seems all-too chummy with the James couple, is also known for covering up employee misconduct and concealing public records.
Back to the meeting, Board member Ricardo Diaz also wondered about requiring ID to submit police complaints, as a citizen had previously complained about being turned away at the police services window because he didn’t have an ID with him. Diaz asks, ““Must I show ID?”
Todd Rent and the James couple all nodded their heads at the same time in unison, as though they were all-too excited about the ID restriction. Rent asserted, “It requires a notarization, yes. In order to file, the ordinance requires that the complainant notarize the complaint.”
Again, Rent’s claim is completely false. There is no requirement anywhere in the CPRB ordinance that a complainant must show ID, and there is no requirement that the complaint be notarized. The words “ID”, “Identification”, “Notary”, “Notarized”, “Notarization” or any variants never appear anywhere in the CPRB ordinance. The only meaningful section that applies is as follows:
Urbana City Code Sec. 19-28(c): A complaint shall be a sworn statement attesting to the truthfulness of the allegations made.
A “sworn statement”, according to multiple legal dictionaries, specifically means a signed statement that is NOT notarized, or at least does not require it. Though the notary section does appear on the police complaint form issued by the Urbana Police Department, this appears to be a requirement that they just invented to make submitting complaints more difficult. The ordinance certainly doesn’t require it.
Unfortunately, none of this is very surprising. This is exactly the type of corruption one would expect when a review process relies primarily on on good buddies review each other.
A complete article on the 2019 October 23rd meeting of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) can be found here: Citizens Voice Concerns About Complaint and Appeal Process at Urbana Citizen Police Review Board Meeting