[Peace-discuss] Urbana City Council Sends Police Review Board Back To Committee

[Brian Dolinar]

After many concerned community members spoke before the Urbana City Council
on Monday night, July 9, 2007, the proposal for a Citizen Police Review
Board (CPRB) was sent back to committee. They will meet with City Attorney
Ronald O'Neal and Human Relations Officer Todd Rent in two weeks to discuss
concerns over the lack of subpoena power in the current proposal.

During public input, 12-15 individuals spoke in support of a review board,
but said that the existing proposal fell short of their expectations. Only
one individual spoke in opposition to any police review board.

John Wason, one of the longest standing advocates for a CPRB and member of
the task force in Urbana, said that the current proposal included virtually
none of the original powers of the Mayor's task force.

Tracy Parsons, President of the Urbana-Champaign Urban League and member of
the Mayor's task force, acknowledged he was willing to negotiate in the
decision, but said the current proposal was "watered down."

Aaron Ammons of CU Citizens for Peace and Justice, criticized the proposal
for excluding ex-felons like himself from serving on the CPRB committee,
despite Urbana's human rights ordinance prohibiting such discrimination.

City Attorney Ronald O'Neal assured the community that the CPRB proposal had
been fine-tuned to meet all legal limitations and the concessions made to
the police union. He warned against giving subpoena powers to the CPRB,
saying it could lead to contempt of court charges and the jailing of
individuals who would not testify before the board. Documents that were
subpoenaed would be relatively easy, he said, just like any other court
documents. But again, the attorney said the city council would have to
decide what the penalties would be if documents were not forthcoming. The
city attorney appeared to be arguing against subpoena powers of individuals
or documents.

The highlight of the evening was the impassioned speech made by city council
member Danielle Chynoweth. She cited her failure in the past to get
information from the previous police chief, even as a city council member.
She said that in the past city officials have not been able to get its own
employees to speak.

Chynoweth pointed to the recent decision of State's Attorney Julia Rietz to
enforce an old Illinois Supreme Court ruling to refuse the public and even
defendants of the right to see copies of court documents.

The alderwoman cited numerous examples of police misconduct and brutality in
Urbana-Champaign. She told anecdotes of individuals who were intimidated and
discouraged from filing police complaints.

Bringing up other CPRBs throughout the country – Santa Cruz, Portland, San
Diego, Iowa City – which have subpoena powers, Chynoweth suggested the
committee look at the these examples for ideas. Echoing the concerns of the
community, Chynoweth said that the current proposal had no "teeth." She
proposed to send it back to committee and the city council agreed to do so.
City council members Charlie Smyth and Brandon Bowersox also went on record
saying that the proposal had been significantly undermined.

Talking later to Aaron Ammons, who is also a poet, he told me he was pleased
with the decision and "glad it went back to the dentist so it can get some
teeth"
-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com
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