Robert T. Finney has reentered the law enforcement profession in Champaign, Illinois for the first time since his resignation as Champaign Police Chief ten years ago.
Finney left the Chief position after his hands-on involvement in the 2009 killing of unarmed 15-year Kiwane Carrington. Finney and his partner, Daniel Norbits, shot the boy after suspicion of a break-in, though Carrington was merely entering a relative’s home at which he frequently stayed. Finney and Norbits claimed they killed the boy by accident, but many in the community believe it was murder.
Since 2012, Finney has been working as a law enforcement consultant for other Illinois towns, including Moline, Fairbury, Monticello, Bloomington, Peoria, Hoopeston, and Farmer City. He also worked as the Executive Director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police in Springfield.
In May of 2021, Finney applied for a position at the Criminal Justice Facility at Parkland Community College in Champaign, and he was hired for a part-time position in August. In his new position, Finney is responsible for training new police officers, many of whom will be hired to serve in Central Illinois, including Champaign and Urbana.
Finney will be paid about $44,000 per year for his part-time work at the College.
To attain the faculty position, Finney had to pass multiple criminal background checks with fingerprinting. The checks indicated no illicit behavior from his past which may render him unsuitable to teach and mentor police officers.
Finney submitted his application to the Parkland position just eight months after claiming that continued public disdain for his involvement in the 2009 killing has made it dangerous for his family to be in public in the City of Champaign.
Records related to the Parkland College hiring of Robert T. Finney can be viewed below (click image for full 35-page PDF):
UPDATE: Check CU has published a new article and new information and records related to this issue:
I reviewed the school’s website information for their associate degree programming for criminal justice as well as the directory.
Given the former chief’s education (BA, MA), he would have to learn something new in order to provide instruction in the school’s criminal justice science programming. As yet, his name is not shown in the school’s directory.
In the attached CV document, I’m somewhat surprised that the “Professional Services” and “Education” sections do not adhere to the ‘most recent first’ convention.
“The [background] checks indicated no illicit behavior from his past which may render him unsuitable to teach and mentor police officers.”
Don’t understand that sentence.
All I can say Is I pry parkland college police never pull me over an this Man shouldn’t be able to even Teach no one how can u Be able to teach someone an u didn’t have patients with a 15 yr old u couldn’t control your partner but u are willing to train some rookies lord I am prying for parkland college officers
When do we not hold a trained cop accountable for his actions. When is it ok to label a chief of police actions an accident. He accidentally didn’t notice the child profile or built clearly identified him as a child. No where in this tragic did this child accidentally die. So since his death is not an accidental death the actions leading to his death can not be labeled as an accident.
How is he even allowed to still be in law enforcement in any form? Shame on Parkland College for perpetuating his career.
First of all I would to say that I support law enforcement to the fullest,we as a society could not function safely without the men and women in law enforcement. But whenever the situation is involved in molding, instilling knowledge of correct judgement and proper ways to handle any and every scenario in correct manner for all parties involved,I would never call on the man who is the prime example of what not to do. This absolutely ridiculous that anyone in their right state of mind would even consider this man to fill this role unless you are just trying to stir up trouble in the community.Its just this simple if you’re going to hire an accountant to handle your finances would you hire one that has filed bankruptcy? No and the answer here should be No! Doesn’t anybody have any common sense or should I now correctly say -not so common sense-. People should pull their out of their behinds SMH