Gun Violence Updates

This post has links and updates on area gun violence and the latest information on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funded programs intended to address that problem at the County and municipal levels. In general, we're seeing a significant drop in violent crime, shootings, and other gun violence locally, similar to national trends since the pandemic era spikes.

Heads up: The third in a series of training sessions for a mass casualty event will be happening today, Tuesday January 30th, according to the News-Gazette:

Tuesday’s session will operate under the Active Shooter Incident Management plan, a widely used framework that Lack said helps restructure the chain of command and coordinate different agencies to use the same language and procedures in the event of a major emergency...

It will also test how certain departments are delegated to respond to regular calls for service outside of the major event. Each responder will participate in the exercise for an hour before cycling back out to their shift.

Tuesday will be the third and largest training session that local first responders have held in part of a continuing effort to ensure that the agencies are on the same page in the event of a major emergency.

That full article here. More from WCIA and the City of Champaign website here. There's a phrase we hear from first responders, ALICE trainers, and some policy makers that, "it's not a matter of 'if,' but 'when.'"

Gun Violence Updates: 

For general updates on shootings in Champaign County, there are monthly updates by area police chiefs and the Sheriff's office each month at the Champaign County Community Coalition. For example, the Champaign Police Department continues to report reduced shootings and a drop in violent crime. From the News-Gazette coverage of January's Champaign County Community Coalition:

The Champaign Police Department is moving in the right direction and not looking to make any wholesale changes — at least according to Deputy Police Chief Geoffrey Coon...

Champaign saw an almost 50 percent drop in shootings in 2023 compared to 2022 and a nearly 75 percent drop in shootings last year compared to 2021, a release from the city police department said...

Coon pointed to the department’s increased investment in building relationships with community members, as well as the implementation of new technology like license-plate-readers and “old fashioned police work” to the drop in violent crime.

That full article here. Urbana PD presented an crime update to the Urbana City Council in early November (jump to video). A graph from that presentation shows similar drops as in Champaign and national trends:

One can compare the spike and subsequent drop in violent crime in national trends and in each city to evaluate any claims on causes. C-U Citizen Access has previously reported that violent crime and shootings have fallen in both Champaign and Urbana in spite of the policy and ALPR technology differences. Other metropolitan areas saw similar drops in gun violence and violent crime as reported by the Springfield Journal-Register.

ARPA Funding Updates:

A lot of programs attempting to address gun violence or underlying factors got an infusion with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. A quick by the numbers update on ARPA funded projects can be difficult as the funds went to various local government bodies. The latest ARPA updates at the County level show most of those programs are still in the "being implemented" phase (page 65-74 of the January County Board Agenda Packet PDF).

Individual municipalities can be a bit trickier to nail down. The City of Champaign packaged a lot of their ARPA funds towards these issues in their Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint. There was a Study Session report and update on the blueprint programs several months ago here. Since then the City has approved a second round of ARPA funding via that blueprint. The resolution approving that second round of funding had an explanation and breakdown here. They also have a general ARPA explainer page on their website.

Similarly, the City of Urbana has a general concept page describing how it plans to use the ARPA funds, including on matters related to gun violence and issues viewed as underlying causes. More details from the city's approved "ARPA Concept Plan Project List" here. The 2024 budget includes a detailed description of the ARPA funds usage (starting on page 8 of the PDF)

"Lost" and "Stolen" Guns:

The News-Gazette has continued to highlight local reports of lost or stolen firearms in a series highlighting how many legal firearms are entering criminal circulation through neglect, theft, or likely sales/transfers reported as loss or thefts:

In less than three months’ time last summer, Champaign police filed five reports of firearms reported stolen by residents — one from an unlocked truck, another from an unlocked apartment, five more from a home when the owner apparently wasn’t looking. Of the nine guns gone missing, none have been recovered. 

That full article here. Other articles in the series highlighted similar issues in Rantoul and Danville and another recent article highlighted vehicle thefts.

County Board Winter Updates

The past few months have seen some headway on the Jail telephone contract, attempts to get the budget hammered out going into the future, failed attempts to have a referendum on the Coroner and Auditor become appointed (as opposed to elected) positions, and more. There is a separate post on gun violence issues around the County.

There is a special meeting of the County Board this Wednesday, 1/31/2023 at 6pm to appoint the new coroner and honor resigning member Kyle Patterson (recently appointed to City of Champaign Township Supervisor). That same evening at 6:30pm there will be another meeting of the Opioid Settlement Task Force committee. [There is now a Cheat Sheet post up on these 1/31/ meetings here.] There are a few brief updates on the task force below.

The 2024 Primary Election (and first day of Spring!) is coming up on March 19th. Check out the VoteChampaign / League of Women Voters Candidate Guide for non-partisan candidate information. There will be County Board and other County Offices on the primary and general ballot this year. An unofficial list is up on the County Clerk's website here and there will be sample ballots available closer to the election.

Illinois Public Media had an excellent overview of the new Jail phone contract here. Excerpt:

The new company — Consolidated Telecom, Inc. — will offer two free phone calls to each resident per day. The new contract is set to begin on Feb. 15, 2024, according to the Request for Proposal. 

Local activists fought for the last several months to convince the county to contract with a company that could offer free phone calls from inside the jail. Champaign County Board member Samantha Carter said people who are in jail and their families should not have to pay exorbitant prices to keep in touch...

Many residents cited concerns with the past contract with Securus over the high cost of phone calls and the way the company collected biometric data. This included collecting the voice prints, or unique data of a person’s voice, while people made calls in the jail. 

That full article here. The News-Gazette also had coverage of the new contract here.

Failed Referenda on Appointed Offices and Taxes:

A renewed idea to save money by making the Champaign County Coroner and Auditor positions appointed instead of elected offices failed to get enough support to even put the issue to a referendum on any upcoming ballot in 2024. The News-Gazette had a lot of coverage of the arguments and pushback on this. From their concluding coverage after the County Board failed to move referenda forward:

After more than an hour of public comment and board discussion primarily regarding proper meeting procedure, the Champaign County Board shot down a proposed resolution that would have asked voters to decide the fate of the positions of coroner and auditor.

The resolution would have placed two questions on the primary ballot in March addressing whether the roles should remain as elected offices or be made into appointed positions...

Multiple speakers — including current Democratic Auditor George Danos — weighed in on how independence is important for the auditor’s office, as that individual deals with a lot of the county’s finances.

That full article here.The News-Gazette's Jim Dey highlighted some of the concerns about the move in an opinion pieces here and other local government reactions here. Dey also covered some additional drama involving vandalism to the Auditor's vehicle and some partisan infighting about how he publicly tied it to County Board activity.

It's worth pointing out that both of the Auditor and Coroner are up for election in 2024. The News-Gazette had information on the Republican and Democratic candidates for Coroner. Auditor George Danos appears to be, thus far, unopposed (along with the State's Attorney and Circuit Clerk).

In other budget concerns, the former Champaign County Executive, Darlene Kloeppel came out against the need for a referendum to increase taxes. County Auditor George Danos also made similar arguments.

Nursing Home Beds:

There was some coverage and updates on the local nursing home bed shortage from Illinois Public Media: 

The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and local group Advocates for Aging Care have launched a survey to help identify the state of senior services in Champaign County.

Champaign County is currently short more than 300 skilled nursing home beds, according to the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District... 

Over 1,000 nursing homes have closed in the U.S. between 2015 and 2022, according to the American Health Care Association. Many of the closures can be attributed to a growing national trend of “flipping” nursing homes — driven by the ownership shift from small, non-profits to for-profit corporations.

That full article here. There was an organized effort to increase attention to this problem by local community members and organizations. They brought their concerns before the County Board last year, as covered in this Cheat Sheet post.

The IPM article also linked to three C-U Citizen Access articles from last month highlighting the growing nursing home bed crisis and how we got here:

• Champaign residents warned the county about a nursing home operator. Now, four senior facilities are closed.
  
  
• Needs assessment survey for Champaign County nursing homes begins soon; Facilities facing bed shortage, staffing issues
  
  
• Elderly Champaign residents mourn the loss of services at Inman; Half of residents leave

More changes to the County Board membership, resignations, and appointments:

The latest appointment was Carolyn Greer to fill Mike Ingram's District 6 seat. Ingram had to resign and vacate the seat after moving to a new home elsewhere in Champaign County.

The News-Gazette's Jim Dey took issue with Ingram's attempt to remain the chair of the Champaign County Democratic Party through their rules and processes. The internal infighting between the local Democratic Party's various factions and personalities seems to keep flowing on social media or directly to journalists inboxes! Dey's "musical chairs" complaint is usually hurled at the younger Democratic candidates on the County Board who tend to move on (to new homes, new political positions, new careers, etc.) than some of the more settled long-timers who have served.

County GOP versus Democratic County Clerk Continued:

In more partisan arguments, the Democratic County Clerk took issue with County Republican concerns about local election integrity, specifically comments made by former County Board member Jim McGuire. The same Republican highlighted for questioning the local election system also had some input on how he viewed local Republican chances in local politics in the context of State and Federal partisan environments.

Opioid Settlement Task Force:

The Opioid Settlement Task Force committee continues to meet and get input on how to effectively use the funds awarded to the County for its part in the lawsuits against opioid manufacturers. The next meeting is this Wednesday at 6:30pm after a special meeting of the County Board. The News-Gazette had an update in November:

Their mission: determining how to put the county’s share of opioid lawsuit settlement money to the best possible use to help fight opioid drug abuse in the local community...

The money — just under $600,000 of which has already been received, with another $1.8 million expected over 15 years — is coming to Champaign County as a party to class-action litigation in which settlements have been reached with three large pharmaceutical distributors, three drug manufacturers and three pharmacy chains.

At least 85 percent of the settlement money must be used on such things as prevention, education and treatment to abate the growing epidemic of abuse of such opioid drugs as prescription pain relievers, heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

That full article here.The audio and minutes from the task force meetings are available on the committees web page here. 

As of today only the audio is available for the last December meeting. There was a presentation by Captain Voges on opioid issues faced by people in the County Jail. She covered various programs working inside and outside of the jail facility to work with people struggling with substance abuse. There was a strong focus in the Q&A discussion about reentry and the difficulties with the environment and homes people are being released into.

The Sheriff also joined the Q&A later on in the meeting. He highlighted the difficulty and the extreme delays that people can face in getting substance abuse and mental health treatment once they've left the jail. After the jail and reentry discussion there were staff updates (starting around the 36 minute mark of the audio).

One will hear a recurring theme on local mental health and substance abuse: there is a serious lack of options for people suffering from severe mental health and substance abuse issues when jail is not the appropriate place for treatment. This appears to be a broader problem that may require State and local level changes (legally and policy).

Other County Government Updates:

• The years long court battle over Carle's past tax exemptions continues with petitions for the Illinois Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the appellate ruling that ruled in Carle's favor last time. From the News-Gazette.
• Homer has ended its own police department due to staffing and funding issues. It will be relying on Champaign County Sheriff's Office for services, according to the News-Gazette.
• Jim Dey noted the passing of former Champaign County Board member Marjorie Sodemann (obituary is available in the 12/13/2023 News-Gazette).
• Grant money coming to the County to help support the costs of asylum seekers here, according to IPM.
• Update on the County Clerk's push to amend old racial covenants still on the books in Champaign County.
• News-Gazette offered a bit of insight into the overlapping jurisdictions and government layers involved in the I-57/I-74 interchange project.
• Kathy's Mailbag had some extra tidbits about the Mahomet Aquifer and possible connections / usage concerns across state lines.
• Kickapoo Rail Trail funding update from IPM. The News-Gazette highlighted how the project was nearing completion.
• Opposition to expanding solar and windfarms in Champaign County forced a supermajority requirement for a County Board vote, which was not met. More background here, also from the News-Gazette.