UIUC Public Safety and UIPD Updates

[UPDATE: An additional news item from today honoring a former officer with the CSSO and UIPD  via WAND:

University of Illinois police honored an officer's memory Friday after his death. 

Officer Anthony Carpenter, 59, served with the Champaign County Sheriff's Office and U of I police for 26 years in total, according to an obituary posted in The News-Gazette. He passed away suddenly on Feb. 7 at his home. 

Full article here. 

There have been numerous public safety related news items and updates for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the last few weeks. This post covers updates on the University police department, university police reform demands (locally and nationally), some various legal issues and efforts to combat cyberstalking and pandemic party violations. 

The University of Illinois Police Department received one of the top accreditations for a police department. From WCIA:

The accreditation means that the department has reached top industry standards. The Tier Two accreditation comes from the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program.

A committee reviews 180 pieces of criteria. This includes four areas: administration, training, operations, and personnel. Professional assessors are brought in to monitor them. U of I police chief Alice Cary says the process takes months...

The department was awarded a plaque for their accomplishment. This is their third time receiving this since 2012. They were actually the first university police department in the state to do so.

Full blurb and video segment here. WAND had additional coverage and information here. The UIPD was also in the news over staffing changes and an Illinois Newsroom series on university police departments and the current push for police reforms. 

• Part 1: A Debate Over Defunding The Campus Police Takes Root At The University Of Illinois
• Part 2: Finding Common Ground Between Abolitionists And U Of I Campus Police
• Panel Discussion: Campus Safety and the Role of the Police at the University of Illinois

There is a lot of additional information, audio segments, and data available at both links. WICS had coverage on the UIPD's new crisis outreach coordinator and related programs:

During her time at the U of I, [University of Illinois Police Chief Alice Cary] has introduced several different services under C.O.A.S.T., including a Behavioral Health Unit called R.E.A.C.H., which stands for Response, Evaluation, And Crisis Help.

They've hired a mental health specialist to team up with officers to assist with mental health calls.

"The officers go and defuse the situation with the social worker to assess the situation for that individual and be the conduit so to speak to get the individual the right care," Cary said.

Megan Cambron is the new crisis outreach coordinator going to those calls, and Tuesday was her first day in the office.

Full article here. More on C.O.A.S.T. and R.E.A.C.H. at the UIPD website here. The News-Gazette had additional coverage on the program and on therapy dogs working for the department and how they can assist in mental health crisis situations here.

There was also some local news coverage on UIUC's "party patrols" to help limit pandemic guidance violations as students returned to campus. From WCIA:

The University of Illinois is re-instating their Party Patrol for the spring semester. Student officers and campus police will focus on shutting down parties overstepping Covid-19 guidelines.

The Party Patrol waits for a noise complaint or party tip. Then student patrol officers are sent as the first warning.

Patrick Wade with the university says usually that’s enough, but in some cases, if the party host doesn’t shut down the party, then the police will come to break it up. The party thrower can then get three different tickets.

Full article here. With the pandemic and the overall dwindling of the Unofficial St. Patrick's Day celebration in previous years, officials are currently not expecting much activity relative to previous years. The News-Gazette had coverage and the reasons for those predictions here.

The ongoing cases related to accusations against a former University Professor Joseph Petry have had updates. The University failed to stop Petry's lawsuit against them:

Petry filed a lawsuit in June in the Illinois Court of Claims accusing the UI of violating his resignation agreement, in which he agreed to step down and the UI agreed to stop investigating him.

But after he resigned, the UI hired a lawyer to complete a confidential investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Petry.

That full article here. There was also more strange developments relating to the accuser that has been enveloped in her own legal issues and drama:

A former University of Illinois student at the heart of a dismissed sexual-harassment complaint against a former professor has been criminally charged with filing false police reports related to separate incidents involving a former boyfriend.

The charges against Sundas “Sunny” Naqvi, 23, of Skokie were filed in mid-December, just a couple of weeks after Judge Roger Webber acquitted her of intimidation and aggravated unlawful restraint involving the same former boyfriend, who had been investigated by police based on her accusations...

“I would say it’s very, very clear there’s a lot of lying, criminality, obfuscation and digging deeper and deeper into a hole,” Champaign Detective David Monahan said at Farrell’s sentencing hearing in December...

Farrell was sentenced in two different cases to three months in jail and 30 months of probation for intimidation and criminal damage to property, which he admitted committing against two of Naqvi’s ex-boyfriends.

That full article here. It's difficult to excerpt and capture how fully bizarre the situation is.

The University also received a grant for responding to sexual misconduct issues. From The Daily Illini:

A grant awarded to the University’s Women’s Resources Center will be used to create a campus response team for sexual misconduct and to focus on cyberstalking, a growing concern of the COVID-19 pandemic...

The funding will be used to support the center in hiring a leader for this project for the next three years. The person hired will establish the University’s first Community Coordinated Response Team against sexual misconduct, composed of a number of strategic partners both on and off campus, Colomé said. 

Some of these services and respondents include the Women’s Resources Center, Carle Foundation Hospital, Title IX coordinators, and law enforcement, if the victim chooses to involve them. Colomé said this will allow respondents to have an increased knowledge as to which services are available to survivors. 

Full article here.