Category Archives: police accountability

A “Pattern of Problematic Conduct”: Urbana Officer Tests Police Accountability (Shortened Print Version)

Posted on August 2023 by Brian Dolinar

This article originally appeared at WILL/Illinois Public Media on July 5, 2023. Reprinted with permission. It has been edited for space and style. See the full version here. “I had a big goose egg on my forehead,” Tianna Morrow recalled, … Continue reading →

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A “Pattern of Problematic Conduct”: Urbana Officer Tests Police Accountability (Full Version)

Posted on August 2023 by Brian Dolinar

This story is part of a partnership, focusing on police misconduct in Champaign County, between the Champaign-Urbana Civic Police Data Project of the Invisible Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit public accountability journalism organization, and Illinois Public Media. This investigation was supported … Continue reading →

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Code Blue: Suffering through DWB in Rantoul

Posted on August 2023 by Kevin Williams

This essay, submitted to the Rantoul Press in 2009, was never published. The author shares it now to give context to community concerns with policing in Rantoul in the wake of recent police shootings of young Black men. “You were … Continue reading →

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Central Illinois Police Training for Mental Health Cases Questioned — Print Version

Posted on December 2022 by Kelsey Turner

Tisha Bryson has been shackled, hospitalized, and shoved to the ground by Champaign-area police while experiencing a mental health crisis more times than she can count. “I try not to hold grudges,” said Bryson, of Hammond. “But some of the … Continue reading →

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Central Illinois Police Training for Mental Health Cases Questioned — Full Version

Posted on December 2022 by Kelsey Turner

Tisha Bryson has been shackled, hospitalized and shoved to the ground by central Illinois law enforcement officers while experiencing a mental health crisis more times than she can count. “I try not to hold grudges,” Bryson said, a resident of … Continue reading →

 275 total views,  1 views today

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“It’s a Money Grab”: Billions in COVID Relief Going to Fund Police and Prisons

Posted on May 2022 by Brian Dolinar

If you’re from inner-city Birmingham, Alabama, there’s a “99-percent chance” you have a family member or friend who has been incarcerated, according to Veronica Johnson, deputy director for the Alabama Justice Initiative, which has been fighting against a proposal to … Continue reading →

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Local Community Protests Former Champaign Police Chief’s Teaching Appointment at Parkland College

Posted on March 2022 by Public i

Former Champaign Police Chief Robert T. Finney was hired in August, 2020 to teach Community Policing as well as Introduction to Criminal Justice at Parkland College. “Unbelievable” is what one African American community member thought on hearing the news; “Shocking,” … Continue reading →

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Ubuntu Project Statement on Automated License Plate Readers

Posted on November 2021 by Ubuntu Project

The Ubuntu Project Urbana-Champaign is disappointed to learn that the Champaign City Council is considering voting to purchase license plate readers. Considering the well-documented controversial reputation and questionable value of license plate readers, the Champaign people need more information on … Continue reading →

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The Ubuntu Project and the Need for a Progressive Shift in Policing

Posted on September 2021 by Alex Horton

Ubuntu is a term that originated with the Zulu people and roughly translates to “humanity” in English. The term emerged as a political concept following apartheid’s disintegration in South Africa. Now a collective of local community members, scholars, clergy, and … Continue reading →

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Anarchism and the American Labor Movement

Posted on May 2021 by Jeff Stein

Anarchists, proponents of “anti-authoritarian socialism,” seek to abolish the state and capitalism. Anarchism replaces authoritarian governance and private ownership of resources with federations of self-managed industries and communities in which those affected by decisions participate in making them directly in … Continue reading →

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The Haters Among Them

Posted on April 2021 by Pat Simpson

The number is thirty so far, thirty police officers charged with the act of participating in the Capitol insurrection last January. Many, many Americans felt shock, and media analysts expressed particular outrage, to find men in blue—perhaps even waving blue-line, … Continue reading →

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Urbana Police Chief Finally Admits Misconduct in Aleyah Lewis Arrest

Posted on December 2020 by Christopher Hansen

  It has been more than seven months since the violent arrest of Urbana resident Aleyah Lewis. Tens of thousands of people have watched the videos of Urbana Police Officers throwing Lewis to the ground, pinning her, punching her in the … Continue reading →

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Chicago Firm Hired to Review Urbana PD has Worrying Police Ties, Offers Disappointing Community Engagement

Posted on September 2020 by Bijal Patel, Christopher Hansen, Sarah Nixon, Alen Romero

The authors of this article are concerned residents and citizen journalists working towards accountability in government and law enforcement at the local level. Background: Growing Outcry Around the Arrest of Aleyah Lewis On June 22, amid a flood of protests … Continue reading →

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Police Unions: Solidarity and Accountability

Posted on September 2020 by Belden Fields

The Police and Solidarity There are two major differences between police officers and other workers in both the private and public sector. The first is a truncated sense of solidarity, the second a lack of accountability. Unionized workers in both … Continue reading →

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Chalk It Up to Protecting Property Over People

Posted on September 2020 by Lance Pittman

In July Michael Long, owner of the Rogue Barber Co. in downtown Champaign, implemented a discriminatory “membership only” policy. The issue came to public attention on July 23, when a female Champaign resident shared screenshots on social media of a … Continue reading →

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How Are Violent Police Held Accountable in Champaign County?

Posted on July 2020 by Belden Fields

On April 10, Urbana Police officers threw an African American woman, Aleyah Lewis, to the ground and punched her while she was down. She had protested the arrest of a friend. Caught on video, this led many people in the … Continue reading →

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Urbana Civilian Police Review Board Under the Spotlight After Violent Arrest

Posted on July 2020 by Christopher Hansen

For the past eleven Urbana City Council meetings, residents have lined up to deliver what has amounted to more than a dozen hours of criticism and a seemingly endless stream of misconduct allegations against the Urbana Police Department. Initially sparked … Continue reading →

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