Since mid-2020, police “use of force” has become a front-and-center issue both locally and nationally. The City of Urbana has been hearing from residents about the need for police use of force reform for the past 18 months, and City officials have frequently paid lip-service to that movement.
One anthem that Urbana residents have heard repeatedly from Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin and Mayor Diane Marlin is that every incident involving the use of force is fully reviewed by Urbana’s “Use of Force Review Board”. The purpose of repeating this mantra: to assure residents that applications of force by Urbana police officers are taken seriously and given due attention and review to assure compliance with policies. Seraphin and Marlin have also repeatedly claimed that there are roughly 120 use of force incidents per year.
The Urbana Police Department Use of Force Review Board is defined within the UPD policies book. Policy 301, titled “Use of Force Review Boards” sets out all of the procedures that must follow a use of force incident. Policy 301 makes a few requirements very clear:
- The Use of Force Review Board must review every incident involving use of force.
- The Use of Force Review Board must meet at least twice a year to conduct their reviews.
- The Board must issue a recommended findings for each use of force incident and submit the written recommendation to the Chief of Police.
- The Chief must then make a final determination and issue that final findings letter to the employee’s Division Commander.
Policy 301 was last edited in 2015, and as of September 2021, has not changed. A copy of Policy 301 with relevant highlights indicating the above mentioned points can be viewed here. Mayor Marlin and Chief Seraphin have reiterated on multiple occasions over the past 18 months that every single use of force incident is carefully reviewed by the board. Here is a video of Chief Seraphin making that same claim on on August 23rd, 2021:
In January of 2021, Check CU began investigating Urbana’s Use of Force Review Board. On January 16th, Check CU asked Freedom of Information Officer (FOIA) Ross McNeil for copies of use of force reports for 2018, 2019, and 2020. McNeil wrongfully issued a recurrent requester notice in order to delay the City’s response, then McNeil claimed the request was both voluminous and overly burdensome (FOIA does not allow for both declarations at the same time).
On February 24th, 2021, McNeil made the following statement in an email:
“Your February 17, 2021, email states your understanding that the Use of Force Board, when reviewing “use of force” incidents, “produces a report for each incident.” You attach as an example a memorandum produced by the board after one such review. The Use of Force Board typically does not produce a formal report after reviewing each individual use of force incident. This misunderstanding is the source of the disconnect between the wording of your FOIA request, and the interpretation of your request by the City. Because the “reports” you seek do not exist as a formal category of record, the City originally misconstrued your request as seeking the much broader category of all police reports.”
This statement is nonsensical since the category of record exists very clearly in Policy 301.
After about 7 weeks of attempting to gain FOIA compliance from McNeil, he eventually filled the request with one single 4-page document: a memorandum from the April 2020 arrest of Aleyah Lewis which was prepared and provided to the public for a presentation on April 27, 2020 (the very same memorandum that Check CU sent to McNeil in an effort to demonstrate the existence of such reports). The City could not produce any other use of force review documents for 2018, 2019, or 2020.
After McNeil failed to produce any Use of Force Review Board records, Check CU then asked McNeil two clarifying questions:
“Are you saying that Urbana’s Police Use of Force Review Board produces no records whatsoever? How does the Board even know when they need to review an incident?”
Instead of answering, McNeil improperly generated a new FOIA request for these questions and then issued another recurrent requester notice in order to delay the City’s response.
On March 15, 2021 Check CU issued another FOIA request which attempted to determine if the Urbana Use of Force Review Board was even holding meetings.
“Any and all records related to meetings of the Urbana Police Department Use of Force Review Board in 2018[2019, 2020]. Records should include, but not be limited to, emails regarding those meetings, documents which indicate the time and location of the meetings, documents which indicate who attended the meetings, and any determinations, findings, and/or recommendations created by the board.”
On March 26, 2021, Check CU issued a FOIA request which very specifically asked for the records cited in Policy 301.
“All Urbana Police Use of Force Review Board “written recommendations” and “Chief of Police’s final findings” in regards to all use of force incidents which occurred in 2018[2019, 2020].”
Check CU even included a copy of Policy 301 with the references to specific document highlighted.
Again, McNeil wrongfully issued recurrent requester notices in order to delay the City’s response. On April 27th, 2020, McNeil finally responded to both requests, issuing substantially the same records for both.
McNeil could not produce any emails or documents of any kind that would indicate meetings of the Use of Force Review Board had occurred in the prior three years in order to review specific use of force incidents. He also could not produce a single “written recommendations” or “Chief of Police’s final findings” from any of the ~400 use of force incidents which occurred in 2018-2020. The Aleyah Lewis arrest appears to have been the only incident in those three years which resulted in the production of any type of report.
On April 27th, McNeil did provide a “Response to Resistance Log” for 2018, 2019, and 2020, as well as a “UOF Summary” for 2018 and 2019. The 2018 Year End Summary does claim that the “Committee members met and conducted their year end meeting on 042219 at 1630 hours”, but that is the only evidence which the City could produce that the Board has ever met in those three years.
The 2019 Year End Summary appears to have been authored near the end of 2020, since it contains notes from an August 11, 2020 memorandum. The memorandum from Deputy Chief Richard Surles indicates that the Board will begin meeting once a month, but McNeil could not produce any evidence of those meetings taking place (and Check CU’s request specifically asked for any records showing when/when meetings took place).
It is not clear if the “Response to Resistance Logs” provided by the City contain every event involving use of force, since an officer could certainly use force without there first being resistance. Neither the phrase “response to resistance” nor the word “resistance” even show up in Policy 301. The very name of the log seems to imply that the use of force was justified in every listed instance. The three logs provided can be viewed below.
Urbana Police Department 2018 Response to Resistance Log
Urbana Police Department 2019 Response to Resistance Log
Urbana Police Department 2020 Response to Resistance Log
Based on our investigation, Check CU has come to the following conclusions:
- The Urbana Police Use of Force Review Board has not been producing the required “written recommendations” and the Chief has not been producing the required “Chief of Police’s final findings” for 2018, 2019, or 2020.
- The City of Urbana cannot produce any evidence that Urbana Police Use of Force Review Board has been holding meetings to perform reviews in 2018, 2019, or 2020.
- The City seems very willing to violate the Freedom of Information Act in an effort to conceal the actions of the Urbana Police Use of Force Review Board.
- If the Use of Force Review Board has been reviewing, voting, and creating written findings for incidents as required by Policy 301, then the City is taking extensive (and unlawful) efforts to conceal that fact.
The Urbana Police Department Use of Force Review Board Policy describes regular meetings of a five member board, formal votes, and written findings for every incident, and the integrity and thoroughness of the Board has been enthusiastically sold to the public by Mayor Marlin and Chief Seraphin. At best, it seems the Urbana Police Department has a very rough and incomplete log of incidents, but has not nearly been complying with their Use of Force Review Board Policy, and there is very little indication of oversight or real review.
With all of the discussion lately by Mayor Marlin about adding a civilian to the Use of Force Review Board, it is hard to understand how and where such an individual would fit into the process given that the Board does not appear to have a tangible existence.
In regards to the handling of requests for public records from the City of Urbana, Check CU also notes the following:
- FOIA Officer Ross McNeil wrongfully determined a requester to be a recurrent requester multiple times.
- FOIA Officer Ross McNeil wrongfully determined a request to be voluminous multiple times.
- FOIA Officer Ross McNeil issued voluminous and burdensome request notices well beyond the statutory deadline.
- FOIA Officer Ross McNeil flagrantly violated the 5 day statutory deadline for providing public records, taking months to give responsive records.
- FOIA Officer Ross McNeil misconstrued follow up questions and attempts to clarify as an additional FOIA request, upon which he also delayed by making a recurrent requester declaration.
- FOIA Officer Ross McNeil ignored all pleas to ameliorate the above mentioned violations.
- By all appearances, FOIA Officer Ross McNeil purposefully misconstrued Check CU’s records requests in an effort to delay and deny public records.