Increasing Urbana policing

The Urbana City Council will soon decide whether the budget for fiscal year 2025 should include a nearly $1.8 million increase for the Urbana Police Department. 

Increasing Urbana policing

Many residents don’t want it. City Council may vote on it anyway.


By Jada Fulcher (she/they)

The Urbana City Council will soon decide whether the budget for fiscal year 2025 should include a nearly $1.8 million increase for the Urbana Police Department. 

The council is expected to continue discussion on the budget in its two upcoming meetings, and could potentially vote as early as June 17. This vote comes weeks before consultancy BerryDunn is scheduled to submit a city commissioned report on alternative response models for public safety. Resident groups have expressed concern about the rushed nature of this increase and have called on City Council to consider alternative models. 

The suggestion to increase the police budget has caused an uproar with a number of residents, sparking a petition and call to action by those who hope for alternative response models to be implemented locally. 

Where’s the money going?

  • $674,904 annually and a one-time cost of $240,690 goes to an additional Deputy Chief of Police, a Training Sergeant Police Officer, and 3 new Patrol Police Officers
  • $476,024 annually for 3 Community Engagement Police Officers to be tried on a 3-year pilot program
  • $116,825 annually for 1 Enhanced Police Social Worker (non-sworn)
    • Would do dangerous calls and ride with patrol and be within the police department
  • $224,507 annually and a one-time cost of $45,800 for 2 Community Service Responders (non-sworn)
    • Would respond to non-violent, non-criminal calls, and traffic calls, housed within the police department

Community members have organized to object to increasing the budget for policing. After collaborating with the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center to put on a community safety forum, interested residents formed the Community Wellness and Solidarity group, which is leading the charge against increasing the police budget. 

On May 16, the group launched a petition to stop the City Council from hiring more police officers. The group has also organized for members to knock on doors in Urbana to inform residents of the proposal to hire more police. 

“There's a lot of things in our community that make us safe,” said Jane McClintock, a founding member of the group. “Housing, having access to health care, having access to someone to talk to if you're having a hard time, having connections in our community.” 

More than 600 people have signed the petition. Rather than aiming for a certain number of signatures, McClintock said the group is focused on allowing more community members to contribute to the larger conversation on public safety. 

“We wanted to make it easier, you know, and just kind of encourage people to sort of present their viewpoint to their City Council members," McClintock said. “We [think] for the most part, our neighbors in Urbana are pretty skeptical about the idea that the best investment we can make is in more police officers.”

Urbana residents used public comment opportunities at multiple City Council meetings to discuss alternatives to an increase in police officers. Over a dozen people have shown up to each regularly scheduled City Council meeting since the petition was launched to ask City Council not to hire more police. Community members emphasized needs for affordable housing, support for low income residents, and racial equity in local policing. 

Outside of public comment, council members have received emails in support of the increased police budget. Alderman Chris Evans of Ward 2 has shared emails of those who believe an increased police presence in East Urbana will assist in crime prevention and speedier police response times. 

Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows that Urbana’s violent crime rates are at a 37-year-low. The most recent data, from 2022, reported 72 violent crimes in Urbana.

Demographic data from Urbana Police Department traffic stops offers additional context. Nearly 47 percent of drivers stopped by city police in 2022 were Black, according to WBEZ and the Investigative Project on Race and Equity’s database of traffic stops. Only 18 percent of the Urbana population in the 2020 U.S. Census is Black. 

UPD’s 2022 Use of Force data shows that African Americans made up 74 percent of the 107 people they used force on. 

The BerryDunn analysis

After the violent arrest of Black Urbana resident Aleyah Lewis in 2020 and the protests that followed, residents rallied to urge the City Council to look into viable alternatives to policing. 

The City Council allocated funds in June 2021 for an evaluation of the city’s public safety needs through the lens of racial equity and social justice. BerryDunn, a consulting agency, was chosen to evaluate these needs

The commissioned report is led by BerryDunn Senior Manager Michele Weinzetl. Before working as a consultant for BerryDunn, Weinzetl was Chief of Police of Buffalo, Minnesota for 14 years.

The firm began their evaluation in 2023 to develop a series of three reports that would assess the current state of Urbana’s Police and Fire departments, review alternative community safety models and study the impact of implementing alternative response models locally.

At time of publication, just two of the three reports have been released to the public. The third is scheduled to be released sometime in July, after the Council votes on its 2025 budget. 

The first of these reports asserts that UPD does not have adequate staffing on patrol to handle their obligated workload, and thus recommended the department hire seven sworn police officers and six non-sworn community service responders to fill that gap. 

While some community members welcome this evaluation, others are skeptical of how these conclusions came to be.

After attending a community stakeholder meeting with a BerryDunn consultant, Urbana resident Camille Cobb started to notice disconnects between the consultant and the participants. Cobb is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and part of her research involves creating survey instruments to best understand people’s views on technology and the world

“[The BerryDunn consultant] was hearing feedback from the community that was saying: ‘Wait, you've only looked at policing, but this meeting was pitched as being about public safety. There's so much more than that,’” Cobb said.

Cobb also filled out a survey made by BerryDunn regarding public safety. Because of her background creating survey instruments for research, Cobb grew concerned about how the study would actually interpret her data. 

“There were some aspects of the survey that were really poorly done,” Cobb said. 

For example, Cobb said the survey did not allow her to explain in what scenarios she would prefer a response from someone other than police. Instead, the survey only allowed for her to reflect times when she would be “okay” with a non-police response. The survey also asked for opinion on various scenarios where police might intervene, with vague descriptions for each scenario. That lack of clarity left much of the survey up to the reader’s interpretation, Cobb said. As there was no free-form space for her to give feedback on the survey itself, a best practice in the field, there was little that she could do.

“I really would have liked to have said, ‘Hey, just so you know, there were some questions here that I didn't really understand,’” Cobb said. “They have no space to find out that their survey was so deeply flawed.”

When the first report from BerryDunn’s consulting assessment emerged, Cobb’s concerns about the study only grew. She found that rather than having one clear space that detailed the methodology for the assessment, the information was instead sprinkled throughout the 300 page report.

Cobb would go on to speak at Urbana City Council meetings from April 29 onward to inform the council about her concerns regarding the methodology of the report and the claims made within.

Cobb isn't the only one to question the BerryDunn report's findings. Ben Joselyn, longtime Urbana resident and Channing Murray Foundation board member, has also been a frequent attendee of recent City Council meetings to address the report.

Joselyn has spoken on the report's disorganized nature, even mentioning conclusions within that reference sections that don't exist in the document.  

“In order to try and find where they support things, it's just a 300 page Easter egg hunt,” Joselyn said in an interview with The Lavender. “It's an incredibly poorly organized document, which makes it hard to refute, because you don't understand.”

Joselyn has also commented on how the report strays from the original intention of the consulting firm's work: to reimagine public safety in Urbana. At the May 28 meeting, Joselyn said the first BerryDunn report was “a far cry” from what was originally promised. 

Skepticism of the report also comes from the way it addresses racial equity. Despite that being a core reason for bringing on the consultancy, the report does not address how public safety can better support marginalized community members.

Sana Saboowala, a member of the CU Muslim Action Committee, said at the April 29 Special City Council meeting that the group is “generally opposed to hiring more police.” Saboowala cited a national concern regarding over-policing of Muslims, especially Black Muslims.

Saboowala also mentioned the heightened police response to protestors on April 26 at the Palestine solidarity encampment at the University of Illinois. On the first day of the encampment, two protestors were arrested. 

UPD was one of five local police departments to encircle protestors as they called for the University to divest from Israel. 

“The extent of police presence from multiple police departments for a peaceful protest on campus this weekend is a sign to me that we have more than enough police,” Saboowala said during the City Council meeting.

Saboowala wasn’t the only one to bring up local police’s response to protesters on that day. Faith Ryan is a recent University of Illinois graduate who spoke on her experience at the May 27 City Council meeting.

“The aching pain in my back and the depression settling into my skull should be enough to convince you that the City of Urbana does not need to expand its already prominent police presence,” Ryan said during the meeting.

Ryan said that a cop “masking his identity with a black gaiter, black sunglasses, a black hat, and gloves” shoved her into the ground by her neck and shoulders while her back was turned.

When asked about Ryan’s comments, Urbana Police Chief Larry D. Boone denied UPD having any involvement with physical altercations or arrests with the protesters. 

Where is the money going? 

Boone said in an interview with The Lavender that while some community members are against hiring more police, he has believed for a while that this is necessary for the UPD. 

“My first visit… based on what I was looking at, some of their calls for services and things of that nature, it was very clear that they didn't have enough police,” he said. “Having been here for seven, eight months, I'm certain they don't have enough police, which is supported by the BerryDunn comprehensive evaluation of the department.”

When asked if Urbana has a public safety problem, Boone said that this varies depending on where you are.

“I would like to see community members that are impacted by crime having a voice,” Boone said. “Generally you see folks, not in all cases, but, since I've been here, most cases, folks speaking towards something that doesn't necessarily impact them.”

The Urbana Police Department budget has increased by a third in the last five years, which Boone attributes to increases in pay and signing bonuses over the last several years. 

If the increased budget is approved, Boone plans to use some of the funds to implement some of the community relations programs that he introduced as Police Chief in Norfolk, Virginia. 

“We're looking at creating a Police Athletic League, where our youth have something to do in the summer,” Boone said “We're looking at creating a Youth Academy, a Citizens Academy, where citizens can come and understand the role of police and get an idea of, you know, some of the challenges the police face, but at the same time, it's an opportunity for our officers to get to know their community authentically.”

Overall, Boone isn’t against alternative response models, however he doesn’t see them as being disconnected from policing. While community members like Jane McClintock seek alternative response models that work outside of the police department, Boone said that a model that incorporates the police has utility as well.

“I embrace different, I embrace bringing those into the fold who have historically been excluded. I understand,” he said. “But I do know this: It's going to be hard to manage any alternative response without some police.”

What’s next

To pass the city budget, five out of eight votes in support are needed. The alderman of each ward and the mayor get a vote. As the City Council moves to vote, opinions vary among the different council members. 

“I do not support any additional hires before we’ve at least completed the rest of the study, gotten meaningful public input and actually explored alternative systems as was the goal when we set out,” said Alderman Grace Wilken of Ward 6 at the May 20 Urbana City Council meeting. 

Alderman Jaya Kolisetty of Ward 4, concurred.

“This process is not over,” Kolisetty said. “I recognize that there are grand ideas of where we could go…  but I do want a complete picture before we look at long lasting changes that are going to have significant impact on the city budget, going to have significant impact on staffing.” 

In an email interview with Alderman Chris Evans of Ward 2, he spoke on his concern regarding over-policing of poor and largely Black areas of Urbana, explicitly citing UPD’s most recent use of force data in connection to race. 

“The attitude of the Urbana Police Department seems to be shifting toward a football game mentality where the good guys tackle the bad guys and most people in jail wins. We'll have to wait and see what happens,” Evans said.

The council held straw poll votes on each portion of the new police budget at the June 3 Urbana City Council meeting. The results were as follows:

  • Funding one social worker as a one-time, nonrecurring expense: 5-1 (with Grace Wilken of Ward 6, Jaya Kolisetty of Ward 4, Chris Evans of Ward 2 , Maryalice Wu of Ward 1, and James Quisenberry of Ward 7 in support)
  • Funding a deputy chief, training sergeant and two new patrol officers: 3-3 (with Maryalice Wu of Ward 1, James Quisenberry of Ward 7, and Chaundra Bishop of Ward 5 in support)
  • Funding two sworn community engagement officers as part of a three-year pilot program 3-3 (with Maryalice Wu of Ward 1, James Quisenberry of Ward 7, and Chaundra Bishop of Ward 5 in support)
  • Including no new increases for police personnel in the budget: 3-3 (with Grace Wilken of Ward 6, Jaya Kolisetty of Ward 4, and Chris Evans of Ward 2 in support)

Ward 3 Alderwomen Shirese Hursey was absent from this meeting, but spoke in favor of the police budget increase at the June 3 City Council Meeting. 

Strawpoll votes are advisory. No formal votes have been cast for or against the budget.

Want your voice to be heard? Then attend the next two Urbana City Council meetings and voice your opinion during public comment! Not able to attend in-person? Then email the alderperson of your ward your concerns, and ask for your written statement to be read into the public record. Government works best when residents are engaged and our input is heard, so reach out!