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Residents and students press Urbana leaders for plan after city use-of-force data prompts outcry
Summary
At a March 16 Committee of the Whole meeting, multiple residents — including a community organizer and university-affiliated speakers — criticized Urbana’s use-of-force figures and asked city leaders for concrete plans linking public-safety dollars to racial-equity results.
Jessica Yassin, a Urbana resident speaking for the CU Muslim Action Committee, opened the public-comment portion of the Committee of the Whole meeting by pressing the council and mayor to explain how they will remedy what she called starkly disproportionate use-of-force numbers in Urbana policing. “Black residents make up roughly 19% of Urbana’s population. Yet police force was used on Black people between 78 and 81% of the time,” Yassin said, adding: “That is someone’s father, someone’s child, someone’s neighbor.”
The concern recurred through several speakers. Steven Maguire told councilors that leadership choices inside the police department and budget priorities help explain the numbers,…
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