Community Coalition 1/8/2020

This month's Community Coalition meeting was the first recorded and televised on CGTV (video available here). There was coverage of the police chief updates at WCIA here (video here at the 2:20 mark):

Community leaders packed the room and listened as Champaign County law enforcement heads named the biggest problems they are facing. They talked about gun violence, officer turnover and a lack of cooperation from victims and witnesses of crimes...

When it comes to addressing crime, police do not just need help from the community to fill in the blanks. They need new officers to fill in vacancies. “Our pool has gone down tremendously. And I can’t hire people who don’t apply,” said Dustin Heuerman, Champaign County Sheriff. Departments are painting a big help wanted sign, hoping to attract more applicants with the heart of what it means to be a police officer.”You have to have a passion to help citizens. That’s what we do every day we come to work is to help our fellow citizen,” said William Colbrook, Parkland Chief of Police.

The Champaign Police Department is actually changing their recruiting strategy. They have about a dozen openings. They used to only have a hiring period in January. Starting this year, there will also be one in June.

Full article here. WCIA had an annual overview of the gun violence numbers earlier this month here:

In 2019, there were more than 99 shootings in Champaign alone. That’s more than the past five years. Danville also had the most shootings in 2019 than in the past five years...

Urbana saw the same amount of shootings in 2019 as they did in 2018. 2015 was a violent year for them, with 35 shootings. They saw a decline in 2016 and 2017, but had 32 shootings in both 2018 and 2019.

Full article with video segment here. Parkland will be having its Marijuana legalization education event at noon on January 22nd. It is open to the public in hopes of ensuring people stay on the right side of the new law. More details here.

John Hecker of Champaign County Crime Stoppers spoke about the gun bounty program to help solve gun crimes locally. The Community Coalition and the City of Champaign were in the news last month for dedicating funds to expand the gun bounty program. From the News-Gazette in December:

The Champaign County Community Coalition and the city of Champaign will contribute up to $30,000 to Champaign County Crime Stoppers so the crime-prevention organization can continue its gun-bounty reward program.

Since its launch in January, Crime Stoppers has paid out $12,000 in rewards for anonymous tips that resulted in 13 arrests and the recovery of 23 guns: 16 handguns, four rifles and three shotguns...

In September 2019, Crime Stoppers USA recognized Champaign County Crime Stoppers’ gun-bounty program with the Community Initiative of the Year Award for groups with population under 250,000.

Full article here. More coverage, including a video segment, at WCIA here.


Other Updates:

The Countywide celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr is coming up January 17th. Smile Politely has details and links here. Facebook event information here.

There was a presentation on the Community Violence Response Task Force and how people can get involved (video available here at the 34:30 mark).

There was also an update on the Trauma and Resiliency Initiative and related events coming up (at the 43 minute mark here). More information on upcoming events at their facebook page here. They are looking for volunteers for a wide variety of needs. There are trauma informed care training events coming up as well. There was a regular organizational meeting for TRI prior to the Coalition meeting, as usual.

Don Owen, interim director of the C-U Area Project, gave a presentation with organization updates on CUAP (at the 48:50 mark here). It included a lot of information about the organization and volunteer opportunities as well. More information at their facebook page here.

The Regional Planning Commission had a presentation on Moral Reconation Therapy, what it is, and how it is being implemented at the RPC's Young Adult Reentry Program. That is available at the 1:01 mark at the video here.