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Urbana Police present 2024 use-of-force report: 72 incidents, all reviewed within policy
Summary
Urbana Police Department reported 72 use-of-force incidents in 2024 (0.29% of 24,864 calls), no firearm discharges, no taser or OC deployments, and that 100% of incidents were reviewed and found within policy; council members sought additional contextual data including arrests, offense types and mental-health involvement.
Chief Larry Boone and Lt. Cortez Gardner presented the Urbana Police Department’s 2024 use-of-force report to the City Council, reporting 24,864 total calls for service and 72 incidents in which force was used (about 0.29 percent of calls). The chiefs told the council there were no firearm discharges, no taser deployments, no OC spray deployments and no blunt-impact incidents in 2024. They said 100 percent of the force incidents were reviewed by supervisors and committee processes and that three cases prompted recommendations for additional training or counseling; none were sustained as policy violations resulting in discipline.
The presentation included demographic breakdowns and a heat map showing that calls for service and part 1 crimes concentrate in a consistent geographic pattern. The chief emphasized the department’s focus on de-escalation training and procedural review: "Force must always be reasonable, necessary, proportional to the threat," he said, noting a department-wide emphasis on training and command-staff oversight of reviews.
Council members asked detailed questions about the review process, use of body-worn camera footage, the relationship between force incidents and arrests or offense types, and whether mental-health calls were overrepresented. Councilmember Chris asked whether supervisors review body-cam footage as part of the review; Lt. Gardner confirmed supervisors do review body-worn video. Council members also asked for future reports to include whether an arrest occurred, the offense charged and whether a formal complaint was filed to the civilian review process.
The department said it is working to expand less-lethal options: not all officers currently carry tasers because of training and certification requirements, but the department plans in-house training and a near-term rollout so more officers can be equipped. Chief Boone said use-of-force incidents have declined nearly every year since 2021 and framed disparities as a larger historical issue in which policing patterns reflect long-standing social and economic factors.
Council members thanked the department and requested additional context in future reporting, including arrest outcomes, offense types, mental-health involvement, and clearer linkage between incidents and subsequent complaint or disciplinary outcomes.
