Area Gun Violence Updates:

Some of the latest updates on local gun violence can be found with the monthly Champaign County Community Coalition meeting (latest Police Chief Updates just after the 28 minute mark in the video here). The News-Gazette covered the topic of unruly late night gatherings raised in the update here. The News-Gazette had an overview of the July meeting updates here, that got into the details of the recent decreases in gun violence from the high spikes in recent years. Excerpt:

Local police chiefs and staff, city officials and program leaders led another packed monthly coalition meeting on Wednesday in its second-ever gathering at the Radisson Hotel in Urbana.

An early focus: Area police departments are detecting a decreased level of community gun violence compared to last year’s record pace.

• For Jan. 1-July 11, 2022, Champaign police reported a 51 percent decrease in confirmed shootings compared to the same period last year (145 shootings versus 71 shootings).
• In Urbana, there’s been a near 52 percent drop in the same period (54 shootings versus 26 shootings), interim Chief Richard Surles said. So far, Urbana has seen two gun homicides this year; there were 10 in all of 2021.

Last month brought a particular drop in gun incidents: There was only one confirmed shooting in Urbana this June, and 29 days elapsed until the next one on July 5. Meanwhile, the Urbana Police Department has arrested 12 people for homicide in 2022.

That full article here. Earlier this month the Cheat Sheet had updates on the closing of the downtown Jail and boarding adult and juvenile prisoners outside of the county due to staff and space issues.

Police Staffing

The News-Gazette's weekly "Meeting Minutes" feature on 7/29 included updates on police staffing in Champaign-Urbana, the County Sheriff's office (eEdition link with chart. For the website link click here) and many other local towns and neighboring County offices (subscription eEdition link). The cities of Champaign and Urbana both have the largest vacancy gaps to fill. At the time of this article it showed roughly 30 openings in Champaign and Urbana, but just a handful of openings across the County Sheriff's Office, Rantoul PD, UIPD, and Parkland police combined (this has likely changed some in the last month).

The University of Illinois Police Department is taking over some of the patrol duties in the Champaign areas of campus town to help alleviate the stress on the CPD's staffing shortage. Illinois Newsroom had more details about that agreement here. Excerpt:

Faced with a shortage of officers, the city of Champaign will pay $840,000 per year to the U of I  for the patrol services. 

U of I Assistant Police Chief Tim Hetrick said the new patrols will operate from Neil Street to the city’s eastern border at Wright Street, and south from Springfield Avenue to Windsor Road. He said two officers will be on duty for each shift...

The Champaign City Council voted last April to approve an intergovernmental agreement with the university to provide the patrol services for two years (with an option for a third).

More at the full article here.

The University of Illinois Police Department also had updates on its crisis response pilot program. From the News-Gazette earlier this month:

Last academic year was the pilot for the University of Illinois Police Department’s new co-response model for mental health calls, which pairs UI behavioral detectives with trained social workers.

As part of the Response, Evaluation and Crisis Help initiative, or REACH team, social workers called crisis responders ride along on patrol and show up to scenes of mental distress, taking the lead on interventions.

After a promising first year, the police department is seeking additional funds to hire at least one more crisis responder to fill coverage gaps... 

The UI police department is working with research groups in and out of the university to publish information about what they’ve learned, to inform other crisis responders. The department just created a qualitative survey tool to send out to the individuals contacted by REACH.

That full article here.

Beyond Champaign County

The local drop in gun violence from previous highs in recent years appears to mirror trends throughout Illinois and nationally:

• Chicago Tribune from last month: "Cautious optimism as Chicago sees statistical decline in gun violence, even as downtown takes spotlight for crime in the first half of 2022"
• And from the New York Times earlier this month: "A Drop in Murders: Despite the grim headlines, 2022 is less violent so far than last year."