Citizens Review Subcommittee Review Update

Coming up this Tuesday, 1/28, the City Council of Champaign will be having a study session that includes reviewing local boards (agenda here). The Study Session report for that subject has an excellent breakdown of the boards and commission of the City of Champaign with descriptions, composition, and duties starting on page 3 of this PDF here. The descriptions are also available on our City of Champaign government organization page here.

Initially the calls for reviewing the City's Boards came after a controversy arose with the Citizens Review Subcommittee of the Human Relations Commission. Full Cheat Sheet post on that with a lot of links of local coverage on the controversy here. After the Subcommittee publicly suggested potential reforms, there was immediate backlash focused on the manner in which they did so. Initial calls to look at the need for the board were changed to call for a review of all boards and commissions. This appeared to be to avoid looking like they were singling out the board that reviews citizens complaints of the Police Department. Excerpt from the last post:

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.

That full post available here. This Study Session will be coming up less than a week after a former Champaign Police Department officer was sentenced for breaking into cars and making local headlines about substance abuse while previously on the job. From WAND:

A former Champaign police officer has been sentenced to probation after he admitted to breaking into cars in his hometown.

Justus Clinton, 45, said he was under the influence when he broke into about ten vehicles in May 2018....

Clinton was with the Champaign Police Department for 14 years.

The News Gazette reports Clinton had struggled with substance-abuse in the past while he was with the police department and even came to work under the influence in 2017 and 2018. The city had offered to get him help so he could keep his job.

His attorney said he has PTSD from a time when he narrowly avoided being shot in the head.

Full blurb here. More from the News-Gazette here. One of the reforms suggested by the Review Subcommittee that appeared to have some broader Council support at the time was to "eliminate the current 30-day limitation on filing complaints."