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Local police, sheriff and Crime Stoppers outline gun-recovery results and tip rewards
Summary
Urbana police and Champaign County sheriff reported recent declines in some crime categories and described gun recoveries; Crime Stoppers highlighted anonymous-tip rewards and Blueprint partnership outcomes that have led to arrests and recovered firearms.
At the coalition meeting, interim Urbana Deputy Chief Mike Cervantes and representatives from the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office and Crime Stoppers presented recent crime data and community efforts to recover illegal firearms.
Mike Cervantes, interim deputy chief with the Urbana Police Department, said violent crime is down about 4% year to date and property crime down about 24% year to date. He reported that crime analysts counted 426 guns related to crime recovered between 2020 and to date, and that the investigations unit recovered 11 guns in the prior 90 days. Cervantes also noted three nonfatal shootings since the last meeting; in one late-night incident officers recovered multiple calibers of shell casings, recovered four guns and made four arrests; one injured person was expected to recover, he said.
Brad Wakefield, lieutenant with the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office, summarized three separate June shootings within county jurisdictions, noting investigations are ongoing, that one arrest had been made in at least one case, and that deputies conducted seven firearms-related investigations or traffic stops in June that led to seizures of illegally possessed firearms (three of which were identified as stolen and tied to vehicle burglaries).
Grama, representing Champaign County Crime Stoppers, described how anonymous tips are processed and the program’s reward tiers: up to $1,000 for information leading to arrests, $2,500 if an illegally possessed firearm is recovered, and $5,000 for tips that lead to a homicide arrest. Grama said the program has submitted 4,548 anonymous tips since February 2022 under the Blueprint partnership, producing nearly 300 arrests and 84 illegal firearms recovered; the board has approved approximately $188,850 in rewards to tipsters.
Speakers emphasized community partnerships—pantry drives, back-to-school supply efforts, and an annual basketball game—as part of a broader community-engagement approach tied to public safety. Coalition leadership signaled a planned separate meeting focused on discussing where guns are coming from and how community partners can reduce violence.
Next steps: coalition organizers plan a dedicated community meeting on sources of illegal firearms and additional outreach/events for youth and families.
