The City of Champaign, Illinois held an open house on March 29th to meet the three finalists chosen to compete for the position of Police Chief. Approximately fifty to sixty people attended, including a couple dozen Champaign City Officials, a few members of the press, and some members of the general public.
Due to the informal nature of the open house, there was not opportunity to seek answers from all three candidates to structured questions. However, Check CU accompanied Champaign resident Nicholas Dale from one candidate to the next as he posed the same question to each: “What do you think differentiates yourself from the other two candidates?”
A video of the responses from all three finalists is provided below.
The Champaign Police Chief position was left vacant when Anthony Cobb resigned on August 6th, 2021. Matthew Henson was appointed as Interim Chief, but he resigned after less than three months. Tom Petrilli has been serving as Interim Chief since December.
The City began advertising the position in October, and the application deadline was February 25th. Champaign City Manager Dorothy David then narrowed the selection down to three individuals:
- Angela Coonce, Commander of the North Patrol Division (Major) for the City of St. Louis, Missouri
- Timothy Tyler, Director/Chief of Police for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office of Law Enforcement in Springfield, Illinois
- Bryce Johnson, Chief of Police for the City of Idaho Falls, Idaho
The City has created a webpage with detailed information on the candidates, including a five minute video from each candidate. The page also shows the selection criteria and timeline, along with other records related to the Chief of Police position.
At the March 29th open house, City Manager Dorothy David said it would take her several more weeks to arrive at a final decision for Champaign’s Police Chief position.
Good work, CHECK CU. Thank you for investigating and reporting from the community’s perspective.