Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB)

The Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (frequently shortened to “CPRB”) is a City of Urbana board first established by City Council on August 6, 2007. The Ordinance establishing the CPRB was later revised on March 16, 2009, and again on May 16, 2011. The existing CPRB Ordinance lies within Urbana City Code Section 19-20. The last time the CPRB Ordinance was updated was in 2015, when the City Council added a TASER review to the Board’s responsibilities.

The general directive of the CPRB is to maintain a registry of Urbana Police Department complaints, issue quarterly and annual reports to the Mayor and City Council, and to hear appeals on any complaints wherein the complainant formally disagrees with the findings of the Chief of Police. There is also a significant portion of the CPRB Ordinance dedicated to the review of video footage of every Taser usage by Urbana Police officers, which includes actions such as “unholstering” a Taser.

The CPRB is made up of seven members, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council. Though there is no residency requirement, virtually all CPRB members have been Urbana residents. Current or former City employees and law enforcement officers may not be on the board.

The CPRB used to meet quarterly, but in mid-2020 began meeting about once a month.

Some of the founders of the CPRB have publicly expressed frustration that the original design for the CPRB was largely stripped of power before the ordinance was passed by City Council.

Historically, the CPRB has received a very low number of police complaints and appeals. This low level of access has been widely attributed to lack of public confidence in the complaint process, particularly distrust in the Urbana Police Department’s ability to perform an unbiased review of its own officers. Recent evidence has indicated a large portion of Urbana Police complaints are administratively denied by City staff before coming to the attention of the CPRB.

From 2015 to 2020, the Urbana Police Department stopped issuing copies of civilian complaints to the CPRB, even though forwarding of complaints is required by law. During the same time, the CPRB stopped issuing quarterly and annual reports, a responsibility also required by law. In 2019, Deputy Chief Richard Surles pressured the Board into ceasing review all TASER usages (a change which can only be lawfully made by a Council vote).