U. of I. Police host blood drive
URBANA, Ill. – University of Illinois Police Department officers and staff on Friday will host and participate in a blood drive to help make sure there is adequate inventory for community members who need it. The blood drive will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the U. of I. Public Safety Building, 1110 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana. Due to COVID-19 protocols, masks and appointments are required to donate blood, and no walk-ins will be served. As of Thursday afternoon, there were two appointments remaining for interested community members. The rest had been filled by UIPD officers [...]
UIPD commits to supporting women in the workplace
URBANA, Ill. – The University of Illinois Police Department has pledged to make hiring and elevating women into leadership roles a priority over the next 10 years. The 30x30 Initiative, a national effort which UIPD joined this spring, is a series of actions addressing recruitment, assessment, hiring, retention, promotion, and agency culture. The initiative encourages police departments to take certain actions to improve the representation and experiences of women in law enforcement. Those actions include things like intentionally recruiting women; ensuring equipment is designed for women; dedicating space to nursing mothers; making sure policies and practices are free of bias; [...]
Urbana Police de-escalate dangerous situation with help from UIPD therapy dog
URBANA, Ill. – A University of Illinois Police therapy K9 contributed to the Urbana Police Department's safe resolution of a tense situation Saturday morning after police were called to help a man who hurt himself with a knife and was threatening to harm himself further. Officers with the Urbana Police Department were the first to respond to a 911 call about a man who was inside a bus shelter in the 1000 block of West Green Street, Urbana. When they arrived they found a 38-year-old man with a knife threatening suicide and who, at one point, cut and stabbed himself [...]
REACH initiative aims to help those experiencing mental health crises
URBANA, Ill. — Megan Cambron sees real opportunity in the University of Illinois Police Department’s new model to help community members experiencing a mental health crisis. Cambron is UIPD’s first Crisis Outreach Coordinator, and she is helping to build a team of social workers who will co-respond with police officers during mental health emergencies to provide better in-the-moment clinical assessments of people experiencing a crisis. Dubbed the Response, Evaluation and Crisis Help (REACH) initiative, the unit will also be tasked to follow up with those community members and make sure that they are connected with long-term care. “Police officers have [...]
Powell joins UIPD to boost community engagement
URBANA, Illinois – An experienced student engagement director and recent interim assistant director of the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center has started in a new role as the Director of Community Development and Engagement at the University of Illinois Police Department. Dementro Powell has been known around campus as “Mr. RSO” for his work in student engagement through the university’s registered student organization office, and for his involvement in coordinating large scale student events and programming. This week, Powell started in his new role at the Division of Public Safety, where he will be tasked with building new [...]