It has been a year since Check CU published the article Urbana City Council has Failed on Police Reform, and the failures cited therein are just as relevant today.
The current members of the Council have been seated for nearly two years and despite grand campaign promises in regards to police accountability, transparency, and use of force, no member of the Council has even attempted to introduce any legislation related to police reform.
The only action that the Council has taken has been to increase police salaries – committing millions of dollars of taxpayer money without asking for any improvements from the Urbana Police Department. When given the opportunity to choose new police leadership, the Council has repeatedly decided to appoint the same police command staff that have actively facilitated and engaged in crimes, misconduct, and cover-ups.
Perhaps the most blaring declaration by the Urbana City Council members that they have no interest in addressing police reform is that, despite heavy demand from the public, they avoided listing police reform in their set of Council Goals.
The Council Goals took nearly a year to develop, and were unanimously approved. Meetings to discuss Council Goals were held at odd locations and not broadcast for public view. When a reporter tried to make video and audio recordings of one of the goals setting sessions last year, Council members and City staff tampered with and disabled their equipment (which is a crime in Illinois).
Tomorrow evening, Ward 4 Council Member Jaya Kolisetty will ask the Council to vote on moving forward with a Fraternal Order of Police contract that has been repeatedly criticized by members of the public over the past several months. Despite the pleading of Urbana residents to make the process more transparent, Kolisetty will also call for another secret meeting to discuss the contract while keeping the public in the dark.
All efforts to conceal meetings and discussions regarding the FOP contract have been pushed unanimously by the City Council members. Even the supposedly progressive members who campaigned largely on police reform (Chaundra Bishop, Jaya Kolisetty, Grace Wilken, and Christopher Evans) insist on keeping the process secret. Not a single City Council member has been willing to explain why they believe that the public should be completely shut out from the process.