One arrested in human trafficking scheme
URBANA, Illinois – A man was arrested Friday night after police were alerted to a kidnapping scheme involving at least one adult victim. A 27-year-old New York man was arrested for aggravated kidnapping and forcible detention. He is being held at the Champaign County Jail. The man is alleged to have demanded that the parents of their adult son pay a ransom for his release. University of Illinois Police learned Friday afternoon that a meeting to exchange custody of the 25-year-old victim for money was to occur in the early evening at a gas station in the 1800 block of [...]
Q&A with new UIPD Police Chief Alice Cary
Alice Cary started in her new role as the Executive Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police at the University of Illinois Police Department in July 2020. As she gets to know our campus, we wanted to take some time to offer our community members a chance to get to know a little bit about her. We had a few questions for her (and K9 Archie!), and we are looking forward to providing more opportunities to get to know her and her take on modern policing issues. First, please just tell us a bit about yourself. Where have you [...]
Police searching for suspect in ill-intentioned Facebook meet-up
URBANA, Ill. – University of Illinois Police are continuing to search for the suspect in an armed robbery that happened at about 4:38 p.m. Thursday in the 2100 block of South Orchard Street, Urbana. An Orchard Downs resident called police after he was robbed at gunpoint after meeting with someone whom he had met on Facebook Marketplace. The two arranged for the victim to purchase electronics from the offender. When they met to make the transaction, the victim was robbed of the cash he had brought to pay for the items. The robbery was announced to all campus community members [...]
New UIPD officer graduates academy
URBANA, Ill. – Campus community members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will soon see Officer Valerie Marcotte around after her graduation from the University of Illinois Police Training Institute on Thursday. Officer Marcotte will spend the next few months in field training, during which time she will be paired with training officers who will help to further refine her skills and abilities. Prior to UIPD, Marcotte most recently worked as a certified nursing assistant at Carle Foundation Hospital, where she was a member of the high-risk obstetrics unit. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Olivet Nazarene [...]
Chief Cary tells community to ‘ask me anything’
University of Illinois Police Chief Alice Cary on Thursday answered questions from the r/uiuc Reddit community. Questions covered topics such as campus safety, funding levels for the police department, mental health resources, and police misconduct, just to name a few. View the full discussion on Reddit.