The Urbana, Illinois Police Department appears to have ceased tracking use of force by officers despite increased standards and requirements by both state and local governments to keep and submit use of force reports.
Check CU requested use of force logs from the City of Urbana on January 31st, 2022. FOIA Officer Ross McNeil provided the logs, but the long entries stopped on September 3rd, 2021. When asked if the logs were complete, Check CU received the following response:
“I have looked into this and it does appear that the file that you were provided was incomplete. I will provide a supplement as soon as I have had time to review the file and draft the supplemental response.
Sincerely,
Ross McNeil
FOIA Officer
Executive Department”
McNeil did not actually follow up until April 14th, 2022 when he provided a new version of the log. However, even in the new file, meaningful entries still stopped on September 3rd. It appears someone may have quickly entered in the most basic information (date and case number), but the entries don’t show which officers were involved, what type of use of force was utilized, or a description of the incident.
This disregard on the part of the Urbana Police Department (UPD) would be consistent with another discovery made by Check CU last year – that the UPD’s Use of Force Review Board has not actually been meeting or reviewing incidents at all:
Urbana Police Use of Force Review – Total Scam?
Interestingly, the Urbana Police Department appears to have ceased upkeep on their 2021 use of force log immediately after their most recent Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) contract was approved by the Council in early September:
Urbana Police Contract Increases Pay, Preserves Status Quo
The Urbana Police Department 2021 use of force logs provided by Ross McNeil on February 7th and April 14th, 2022 are provided here:
Urbana, Illinois Police Department 2021 Use of Force Log (provided on February 7, 2022).xlsx
Urbana, Illinois Police Department 2021 Use of Force Log (provided on April 14, 2022).xlsx