by Check CU | Jul 24, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten and past City Attorney James Simon have spent part of their careers ensuring that discrimination complaints are never processed by the City After Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten unlawfully overthrew the...
by Check CU | Jul 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
The Urbana, Illinois City Council unanimously reappointed Anthony Allegretti and Tony Rice (left top and bottom) to the Civilian Police Review Board, despite repeated past misconduct while serving on the Board On June 27th, 2022 the Urbana, Illinois City Council voted...
by Check CU | Apr 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
On January 29th, 2022 Check CU requested a number of records involving police use of force from the City of Urbana, Illinois. The Urbana Police Department is still refusing to release some police reports and they have refused to release the names of police...
by Check CU | Apr 9, 2022 | Latest Articles
Research by Check CU has revealed what can only be described as the felony destruction of public records by Urbana Police Officers. Throughout 2020, amidst the nationwide demands for police reform, Urbana, Illinois residents took up similar causes with their local...
by Check CU | Mar 28, 2022 | Latest Articles
Residents now have an easy to use tool for submitting complaints about Urbana, Illinois Police officers. The non-profit “Civilian Resource Site” at UrbanaPolice.org now has a web portal that can be used to submit complaints at any time, by any person, even...
by Check CU | Mar 28, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Council members have thus far ignored the statutory and contractual violations by their Police Department in regards to the handling of complaints against police officers. Check CU recently published two articles showing that the Urbana...
by Check CU | Mar 27, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Officer Colby Wright shoots an unarmed subject in the back with his TASER in a 2019 incident. The subject turned out to be an innocent bystander who was misidentified by Urbana Police. Deputy Chief Richard Surles argued that the TASER use was...
by Check CU | Mar 13, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Officer Colby Wright chases an unarmed subject with both guns drawn after already having shot him in the back with his TASER Body camera video and police reports obtained from the Urbana Police Department (UPD) show what appear to be highly...
by Check CU | Mar 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin stresses the importance of keeping ties with neighborhood associations at a City Council study session on February 22nd, 2022, but her actions don’t align with her words. Urbana, Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin has frequently...
by Check CU | Mar 7, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Chief Bryant Seraphin and Mayor Diane Marlin participate in a police reform march on June 1st, 2020. Demonstrations were held in Urbana-Champaign and nation-wide to push for greater accountability and transparency in policing, with a focus on...
by Check CU | Mar 3, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Officers chase a resident with TASER gun and pistol drawn Seven years after passing a TASER gun review requirement for their police department, the Urbana, Illinois City Council seems to have given a passive thumbs-up to its destruction. ...
by Check CU | Feb 10, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin The Urbana Police Department and the Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) have been openly violating their mandate for more than two years. Whereas City Ordinance and UPD policy require the Police Department to review TASER gun...
by Check CU | Jan 23, 2022 | Latest Articles
On October 27th, 2021, Check CU published an article which reveals many of the failures of the TASER review process by the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB): Urbana Staff Refuse Oversight on Police TASER Usage From the article: “When the Board members issued...
by Check CU | Oct 27, 2021 | Latest Articles
Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten interjects during a CPRB meeting, arguing that the Board is not allowed to perform TASER oversight. The September 22nd Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) meeting continued a theme that has been present at virtually every...
by Check CU | Sep 30, 2021 | Latest Articles
On September 13th, the Urbana City Council voted on a new Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) contract which effectively locked out any police reform efforts for the next two years. The new FOP contract is largely similar to the prior one, which expired and was...
by Check CU | Feb 12, 2021 | Latest Articles
On January 15th, the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) convened for an appeals hearing in regards to a handful of police complaints filed more than a year prior. A number of issues arose which seem to indicate that due process is of little concern in regards...
by Check CU | Jan 6, 2021 | Latest Articles
On November 2nd, 2020, Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten spoke about a mysterious memo regarding the legality of the obstacles she had placed in front of Urbana residents attempting to submit police complaints. The memo was in regards to the filing of...
by Check CU | Dec 22, 2020 | Latest Articles
Attorney Ben Gehrt, hired by City Administrator Carol Mitten, argues that Urbana’s Civilian Police Review Board should not be allowed to accept police complaints based on video evidence. The Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) met on December 17th, though...
by Check CU | Dec 2, 2020 | Latest Articles
Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten claims that the City will sanction its public board members to prevent them from disclosing what happens in closed sessions. On the evening of November 30th, the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) assembled for an appeals...
by Check CU | Nov 20, 2020 | Latest Articles
A young male screams out as Urbana Police Officers use a prohibited drive-stun TASER technique to inflict pain. The individual had not been suspected of having committed any crime, did not have any weapons, and showed willingness to comply before being tackled to the...
by Check CU | Nov 5, 2020 | Latest Articles
Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten speaks to the Council on November 2nd, 2020 City Administrator Carol Mitten gave a presentation at the November 2nd Urbana City Council meeting in regards to a contentious police complaint requirement that has been under...
by Check CU | Oct 27, 2020 | Latest Articles
City Administrator Carol Mitten gave a presentation on Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) complaints and appeals hearings at the Urbana City Council meeting Monday night. I had predicted she would attempt to deceive the Council and the public the previous week,...
by Check CU | Jun 23, 2020 | Latest Articles
On June 23rd, four Urbana residents submitted “A Residents’ Petition for Reforming the City of Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB)” to the Mayor, City Council, and the members of the CPRB. The petition was also posted to change.org and has been signed by over...
by Check CU | May 29, 2020 | Latest Articles
A Meeting of the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board For the past seven Urbana City Council meetings, residents have lined up to deliver what has amounted to several hours of criticism and dozens of misconduct allegations against the Urbana Police Department. ...
