report – CU-CitizenAccess.org

The city council voted 6-3 on a resolution "Authorizing the Purchase and Installation of Automated License Plate Readers, Gunshot Detection, and Related Equipment from Flock Group, Inc.," in December 2021.

Champaign gunshot detection tech not meeting expectations

Post author:Andrew Prozorovsky / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:September 13, 2023
Post category:Government Neighborhoods Technology

On February 13 this year, a one-year pilot program began in Champaign with Raven gunshot detection technology. Records obtained in a Freedom of Information…

Read more about the article Hospital cost disclosures under transparency law inconsistent and hard to compare without third parties

Darrell Hoemann

Carle Admin Center at Carle at the Fields on Sunday, December 19, 2021. photo by Darrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess

Hospital cost disclosures under transparency law inconsistent and hard to compare without third parties

Post author:Leo Kempe / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:June 9, 2023
Post category:Government Health Care

On average, the Methodist Medical Center Of Illinois in Peoria charges $26,892.08 for a procedure known as a mastectomy, a total breast removal —…

Read more about the article Trains often carry hazardous materials through Champaign County, but public kept in dark because of security concerns

J. Sidney Malone

An employee delivers orders at the Neil Street Culver's that stands less than 15 yards from railroad tracks carrying hazardous material. Beyond the tracks is the Illinois Fire Service Institute, which trains to handle hazardous material incidents.

Trains often carry hazardous materials through Champaign County, but public kept in dark because of security concerns

Post author:J. Sidney Malone / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:June 5, 2023
Post category:Government Transportation

A train passes through Champaign County every fifteen minutes, many of which carry flammable, corrosive and hazardous materials. The recent disaster in East Palestine,…

A map of shootings in Champaign from Jan. 1, 2016 to Nov. 15, 2021. It was released in the Community Violence Reduction Blueprint, which was released in February 2022.

Of 50 victims, young minorities harmed most by flurry of Champaign gun violence

Post author:Heather Robinson / For CU-CitizenAccess and Andrew Prozorovsky / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:August 25, 2022
Post category:Justice Neighborhoods

There were 50 lethal shootings in the city of Champaign between 2015 and the first half of 2022. Of those 50 victims, 15 were…

Read more about the article Results of defunct Urbana Community Alternative Policing program a mystery; racial disparity reports no longer accessible

King School

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, the site where Urbana Community Alternative Policing committee meetings were held.

Results of defunct Urbana Community Alternative Policing program a mystery; racial disparity reports no longer accessible

Post author:Jenni Kallenback / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 22, 2021
Post category:Government Justice Neighborhoods

UCAP was intended to be a catalyst for the community policing program. It no longer exists and there doesn’t seem to be a community policing program for northern Urbana, north of W. University Avenue and west of N. Broadway Avenue, or any other part of Urbana.

Read more about the article Hiring shortages an obstacle for policing amidst increasing gun violence

Darrell Hoemann

Looking south to the Champaign Police Department Building on First Street. Photo by Darrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess

Hiring shortages an obstacle for policing amidst increasing gun violence

Post author:Claire O'Brien / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:August 6, 2021
Post category:Government Jobs

Several months after addressing increasing gun violence in a community update, a new report on hiring reveals the Champaign police force is understaffed. Urbana and University of Illinois police are experiencing some shortages, but have significantly less unfilled positions.