Champaign Police Review Board Reforms

The City of Champaign's Citizens Review Subcommittee (Cheat Sheet post with an overview of its origins and purpose here) has recently proposed reforms to improve the process going forward. This is a follow up to a previous Cheat Sheet post where these reform ideas were initially presented to the Champaign Human Relations Commission available here. These ideas were presented at that meeting with some initial reaction by the Champaign Police Department's Chief Cobb and Lt. Ramseyer (video here — CPD presentation at 13:30 , CRS presentation at 17:30). As a reminder, the Citizens Review Subcommittee is a subcommittee of the city's Human Relations Commission (more on the bureaucratic organization here). The News-Gazette had an overview of that meeting and the proposals here. Excerpt:

Two years since it was first seated, the Champaign Citizen Review Board, chaired by University of Illinois doctoral student Emily Rodriguez, has come up with four recommendations on what can be done to "improve community-police relations" and make the complaint process easier and more transparent.

The subcommittee called on Champaign police to take four steps:

— Eliminate the current 30-day limitation on filing complaints.

— Fold mediation opportunities into the complaint hearing process.

— "Humanize" the complaint filing process by creating an anonymous option and adding complaint filing sites.

— Invite the complainant's participation and feedback after the process.

Full article available here with additional information (Cheat Sheet meeting write up here). A lot has happened since the reform ideas were initially presented to the Champaign HRC in June. The Citizen Review Subcommittee discussed the recommendations with Chief Cobb at their August meeting (video available here, overview in the minutes available here). The News-Gazette had coverage of that meeting with Chief Cobb here. with many of his initial thoughts and Q & A with subcommittee members:

The city’s top cop has several concerns but no solutions about proposed changes to the way citizens file complaints about police officers.

Champaign police Chief Anthony Cobb appeared before the citizen review subcommittee this week to address recommendations the 2-year-old, five-person commission made in late May. The chief left the meeting agreeing to work with members of the group but not ready to sign off on any of the four changes to the process they had suggested.

That full article here. The recommendations and attention has raised concerns among some City Council members. From the News-Gazette earlier this month:

Some on Champaign council questioning Citizen Review Subcommittee's role as police chief reviews recommendations
...
Among Fourman’s issues with the group’s recommendations is the elimination of a time limit on filing a complaint.

That, she said, “is not going to work in the citizen’s best interest,” given that body-camera footage is deleted after 90 days, unless it’s flagged...

According to the ordinance that established the subcommittee, it has a role in promoting “thoughtful policy recommendations and ongoing outreach” in addition to its duties as an “unbiased review board.”

But like Fourman, Stock questions whether the subcommittee is overstepping its bounds.

That full article here. Attempts to resolve the City Council members concerns led to a rift between council members concerned about recommendations that tread into policy and subcommittee members who consider recommendations a clear mandate of the subcommittee passed by the council itself. From the News-Gazette last week:

The Champaign City Council on Tuesday unanimously supported a request to clarify the role played by its commissions and subcommittees — spurred in part, according to one council member, by the lack of respect city staff have been shown by some of the groups.

The request put forward by council member Clarissa Nickerson Fourman during a study session followed critical comments by members of the Citizen Review Subcommittee during the public-participation portion of Tuesday’s meeting.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Emily Rodriguez used that time to say she is “eager” to give the council more information on suggested reforms to the city’s police-complaint process, while also voicing concerns about recent council comments that her group was overstepping its mandate.

Rodriguez said her subcommittee is merely abiding by the 2017 ordinance, passed with unanimous consent, that established the group.

“The CRS is part of the legacy of Kiwane Carrington,” Rodriguez said, referring to the 15-year-old victim of what was deemed an accidental police shooting in 2009. “The CRS is not only within our mission to issue recommendations, but we would not be fulfilling our mission if we did not do so.

That full article here. The News-Gazette had further coverage the next day with further reactions by Council and subcommittee members and next steps. The issue will likely come to a head again in a City Council Study Session approved at that meeting:

Feinen said the study session could happen as soon as three months from now.

“When we do have that meeting,” the mayor said, “we’re going to reach out to the boards and commissions so they can read the study and appear if they want to.”

More details at that full article here.