URBANA — Both of Urbana’s 2025 mayoral candidates feel that the city is doing the right thing by looking into alternative public-safety models.
However, their opinions differ when it comes to the recent debate between police Chief Larry Boone and the Urbana City Council on whether to increase police staffing ahead of the outcome of a public-safety study, which ultimately ended with the council approving a pared-back version of Boone’s funding request in June.
“I’ve had this conversation with Chief as well,” DeShawn Williams told The News-Gazette. “I want to ensure that we, at least, if nothing else, let’s try something new in regards to the alternative response. Let’s try this. Let’s see how it works. Let’s see how the community responds.”
If the alternative response fails to have a significant impact, then the city could “revisit some of these other ideas that (Boone) had initially,” he concluded.
Fellow Democrat Annie Adams, whose brother is a police inspector in another city, said she was in favor of hiring more police personnel and noted that BerryDunn, the consultant on the public-safety study, had recommended adding seven sworn police officers and six non-sworn community service responders in a staffing report released in March.
She added that the firm reported that 67 percent of the city’s population is under age 35, which often corresponds to a higher workload for police officers.
“We have a population of about 37,000, but that population gets much higher throughout the day, and when there’s large events on campus,” Adams said. “So they’re also having to staff for those types of things. So the bottom line is police and fire people have very difficult jobs, and they need our support.”
When asked what kind of alternative-response models he would be interested in exploring — and if there are any he would be against — Williams said he’s waiting to see what proposals come out of the alternative-response task force.
He added that he’s met with leaders from Evanston, which has seen “some success” with a new model.
That city launched its Crisis Alternative Response Evanston program in July. According to Evanston officials, C.A.R.E. operates independently from the police and responds to “certain low-risk calls,” such as nuisance complaints, well-being checks, ordinance violations, panhandling, individuals who are lost or confused, a “mental subject” or soliciting.
The program is housed within Evanston’s Parks and Recreation Department.
“Their thought process behind that was essentially for the folks who touch the community the most, who have their ears to the streets, that’s who they wanted to kind of lead the way in their efforts,” Williams said, noting that he’s discussed some of Evanston’s ideas with local community leaders.
When asked what kind of situations might be right for an alternative response, Williams pointed to instances such as mental-health calls, parties and loud noises.
“Just your general things that it doesn’t require a sworn officer to come,” he said. “Because a lot of times, folks get nervous, they get worked up and it escalates during times when it really wasn’t needed.”
He added that while data is important, it’s also important to have “anecdotal mindset.”
For instance, if there’s a call to the address of a person who is anxious around authority and has a relationship with a specific individual from a community organization, that individual may be the right person to send over, he said.
“If, for whatever reason, it turns into something more, then, of course, yes, the police are very necessary in that thought process, in that call,” Williams said.
In discussing alternative models, Adams said she’s had several discussions with her brother about these kinds of issues, which are “thorny.”
The police “are trained professionals, and they will go through specific training,” she said. “Say somebody is attacking you with a knife, how do you respond to that? And if the police are not trained in how to respond to someone coming at you with a knife, they might not respond in a really positive manner. They might do something that would negatively affect the community that they live in.”
She added that she’s excited about the alternative-response task force and the different community organizations that will be involved in its discussions.
Adams also expressed support for the police department’s plan to pilot a community engagement team headquartered in the Philo Road area and its Crisis Co-Response Team resource guide.
“What I think is wonderful about considering alternative responses is knowing that there are these other resources out there,” she said. “But we have to know how to lean into them and how to use them, and that has to be consistent responses.”
When asked what kind of calls might be better handled by an alternative response, Adams said there was a situation where someone she knew “had a person in their house, who they needed them to get out of their house.”
“This person did a lot of work trying to figure out what the web of support would be there for them if they tried to get this person out of their house,” she said.
Adams’ friend initially talked to the police and “got one response,” but when it came time to act, they found out the police actually could not intervene. The individual could not find another organization that would be able to help.
It would be great if there was a plan in place to help people find the right resource for their specific scenario, Adams said.
“I’m going to have strong opinions about law enforcement,” she added. “As a child, I survived an assault by my grade-school teacher. As an adult in Chicago, I survived armed robbery, and, before moving to Urbana, home invasion.”
In each instance, she wishes there had been technology to track and document what happened.
“As a person who has experienced these traumas, I take effective law enforcement seriously,” she said. “And as a person who has friends and family who are not White and not straight, I need law enforcement to be equitable and just.”
As the public-safety study continues, the city of Urbana has assembled an alternative-response task force, which is made up of representatives from a number of community-service organizations and departments of local government.
According to Mayor Diane Marlin, the group will come up with different options for alternative-response models, with the council having the final say on whether to implement any of these plans.
The task force was a major topic of discussion during Monday’s city council meeting, with several members of the public expressing concern and outrage over BerryDunn’s recommendation that meetings of the group be held in private. After much discussion, the council ultimately decided that the meetings should comply with the Open Meetings Act.
When asked if there would have been any benefit to having meetings be private, Adams replied that she doesn’t believe there will be an issue with task force members being uncomfortable talking on the record.
“I don’t know if there any secrets that people would share,” she said. “I could be wrong about this; I’m not boots on the ground on this. So if I was physically there, I might have a strong, different opinion about this, but I feel like if people want it to be open and people want to hear this discussion, I think that’s OK.”
Williams said he agreed with the council’s decision.
“If we are being honest while we are building back the trust of our community, we have to ensure transparency in all aspects,” he said.
Marlin told The News-Gazette that she has spoken with BerryDunn about the council’s decision.
“From the city’s perspective, our aim is to have both a task force meeting process and outcomes that meet the needs of our community,” she said. “The exact format of the meetings is yet to be determined. The process will be compliant with the Open Meetings Act. The meeting scheduled for October 15 has been canceled as we continue to work on logistics.”
According to Marlin, the following organizations have representatives on the task force:
- Champaign County Mental Health Board
- NAACP of Champaign County
- The Well Experience
- Cunningham Township
- C-U Trauma & Resilience Initiative Inc.
- First Followers
- Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, Community Services Division
- Rosecrance Behavioral Health
- Rape Advocacy, Counseling & Education Services
- Courage Connection
- Carle Foundation Hospital Emergency Department
- OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center
- The Refugee Center
- METCAD 911
- Urbana City Council
- Urbana Department of Community Development Services
- Urbana Police Department
- Urbana Fire Department
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