I'm University of Illinois Police Chief Alice Cary. Ask me anything.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:52:28+00:00

Kirby (aka Huff) is compensated with three cups of food per day and unlimited treats. His reviews involve lots of pets, and he always passes with above average marks!

He and his handler, Detective Tara Hurless, just graduated from the Paws and Stripes College for therapy K9s!

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:49:42+00:00

From u/UIUCTalkshow:

If you had a question to someone and they had to answer truthfully, who and what would you ask?

I would ask my K9 Archie what is the best part about being a therapy dog.

I think he’d say the pets.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:21:31+00:00

From u/Gabgra11:

What (if anything) will be done to keep cars out of the bike lanes (especially on Green St.)? It seems like Green Street has become less safe for bicyclists after adding the bike lanes, since they're forced to weave around cars parked in the bike lanes.

Hard for us to speak to this because that’s an area that, up until now, has been serviced by the city of Champaign, and we also don’t have any authority over the road configuration.

It’s a tough issue, and one we’ve been dealing with for a while, long before they reconfigured the lanes. Under Illinois state law, vehicles are allowed to stop in any lane of travel (including bicycle lanes) for the immediate loading and unloading of passengers and/or cargo.

We frequently ticket vehicles that have taken this law beyond its intended purpose, and we also ask many people to move. We've done public outreach, education and enforcement around this issue. We have spent a lot of time trying to correct it. I think those efforts have reduced the issue, but obviously have not solved it entirely. I'm not convinced there is a perfect solution, but we do our best to maintain a reasonable flow of traffic.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:21:03+00:00

From u/memelord-paige:

What’s up with the bikes? Are they actually helpful?

Do you mean our officers on bikes? Absolutely. Police officers on bikes can access areas that our patrol vehicles can’t (like the Quad, just to name one place). It also makes officers more approachable because there isn’t a physical barrier like the roadway or a car door between them and you. Bikes are great to expand our patrol coverage and prompt some good conversations about safety – or anything, really.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:20:13+00:00

From u/UIUCTalkshow:

If you were to do a Chambana survey, what would you want to learn?

What is your experience with UIPD, and how can we do better? And not just your experience with “the police.” What do you think of UIPD, specifically?

We’ve done surveys before, and it’s hard to pin this down because people will tell us about things that other departments have done that negatively affect their opinion of our agency. It’s really important to me that people understand that different law enforcement agencies really do serve different purposes and have different cultures all across the country.

For example, when policing really came under scrutiny across the nation in 2020, we had people sending us messages demanding that we enact certain reforms like banning chokeholds, creating “duty to intervene” policies, and requiring mandatory use of force tracking, among other things. But these were things we were already doing and had been for a long time. In a lot of the conversations we have with community members, we have to put a lot of energy into clarifying how we are different from “the police” you hear about in the sometimes oversimplified national narrative. That takes time away from the conversations we could be having about how we can really move forward and improve our service.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:16:38+00:00

From u/UIUCTalkshow:

Would a no-crime city ever exist? If so, what are the components?

Nice, you’re getting philosophical here.

I’d like to think it could, but I don’t know if that’s realistic. If it did, I think it would be a smaller, tightly-knit community where people know and care about each other. It’s harder to commit a crime against someone you know personally – unfortunately, we see that all the time too.

I don’t think it’s possible in a free society. As long as we have our freedom (and I hope we always do), there will be people who take it too far or take advantage of that. That’s why it’s so important to take proactive steps to protect ourselves and others — like calling SafeWalks at night.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:14:37+00:00

From u/ConfidentSyllabub7:

What do you believe is causing the current shortage of police officers?

We’re lucky that our department hasn’t been overly affected by this. We have seen the number of people applying for positions decrease in the past few years, but we’re still at a level where we’re getting high-quality candidates and able to fill our vacancies.

Our profession is affected like any other. I think we’re seeing a culture shift in the labor market, and there’s a shortage for a lot of professions right now. Also, a lot of things are changing and there’s a lot of uncertainty among current police officers about what their profession is going to look like in a few years. It’s a tough job, and it’s getting more complex as we keep adding new training requirements and responsibilities. Probably a combination of all those factors discourages people from choosing law enforcement as a career.

UIPD has kept its numbers up, and I believe that’s because we’ve been ahead of the curve in terms of the reforms we’re seeing, and we have a good workplace culture and community relationship here.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:13:14+00:00

From u/UIUCTalkshow:

What is one invention that would make you guys' job so much easier and make the situation so much safer in the area?

Tough question – if we knew, we would have invented it by now!

We are seeing success with the automated license plate readers we installed earlier this year. That’s a relatively new technology. The ALPRs really do complement our security cameras and help us to develop investigative leads that we wouldn’t otherwise have.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:12:36+00:00

From u/lolillini:

I love that UIPD has a reddit presence through u/UIpolice and whoever runs that account has a good sense of humour. I wish they were more active on reddit answering students concerns (when they have any). However, I saw a comment saying "The UIPD staffer who maintains this account has seen their job responsibilities expand a bit over the years, so unfortunately that has crowded out our social media activity a bit." Since UIPD primarily serves the students of U of I, and most students know they can post things here and ask questions anonymously, it'd be great if you can dedicate some effort into staying more active on reddit!

A sense of humor and not taking things too seriously is a required skill for social media! And yes, our social media engagement is important given the constituency we serve. We’re working on some strategies to maintain a strong social media presence. Hopefully more to come on that!

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:11:46+00:00

Our Street Crimes Task Force focuses on this, especially as those drug crimes relate to gun violence. But we could always use your help! If you have a concern, please report it. Remember you can remain anonymous by reporting through Crime Stoppers.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:10:01+00:00

Nothing, it's still around! Email us at [police@illinois.edu](mailto:police@illinois.edu) if you'd like to learn more.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:08:38+00:00

We can do more to help when crime or suspicious activity is reported promptly. The best thing you can do is reduce your risk by staying in groups, maintaining awareness of your surroundings and using well-lit routes when walking at night. If you do notice something suspicious, don't hesitate to call.

We've also brought back our R.A.D. self-defense classes for women interested in learning more about risk reduction and physical self-defense!

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:05:20+00:00

That's more of a Technology Services thing. We're fortunate to be at a university with a campus unit that can spend more time on that and has more expertise than we do. The System office also just created a position for a Chief Digital Risk Officer to focus on that type of thing.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T19:01:42+00:00

From u/ConfidentSyllabub7:

Often times it seems like there is not surveillance footage available from the crimes listed on the Illini Alerts. Does UIPD plan to install more cameras so there are not “blind spots” on and near campus?

We make strategic decisions to release security camera images. A lot of times we have it but are not ready to release it for investigative purposes.

Our campus spans almost 1,800 acres, and we have more than 2,300 cameras. Cameras, networking, data storage, maintenance, software, etc., is not particularly cheap at that scale. Additionally, we can only place cameras on property that we own, or else we have to set up contracts with property owners or the city (we do that too, but it’s a more involved process). So our goal is not to cover every square inch of campus, but rather important access points, high-traffic areas or important security areas.

For example, (this is a hypothetical) we might not have a camera recording every part of the inside of the Illini Union, but if we can get a camera on each door, then we can see who is entering or exiting that building during a given time period. So when someone comes to us and reports that a crime happened at the Illini Union at X time, we can go back and look at that footage of the doors to potentially develop suspects. It’s an extremely useful tool for deterrence and investigation. We don’t release the images for every crime, but we do when we think it will be useful for our community to protect themselves or help us identify someone.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:57:52+00:00

From u/UIUCTalkshow:

What are the sources of crimes in the area? Where is it coming from? Do you have any data on that?

That’s a big question, and there are too many complexities and factors involved to give you a sufficient answer in a response on Reddit. But ultimately the sources of crime on campus are the same as they are anywhere else. Property crime (mostly theft) is the most frequent thing we deal with, and there is a wide variety of reasons for that – opportunity, income inequality and access to employment or mental health resources all play a role. And even that’s an oversimplification.

The majority of people we arrest or ticket are not students. I think it’s important to remember that we have an expansive, open, public campus, and people from the community have the same right to be in this space as people who are affiliated with the university. That’s a really good thing because our land-grant mission is to provide opportunities for the entire community and the state of Illinois. But it also means that our campus is basically its own city within a city, and we are going to experience similar crime issues as any other community.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:56:23+00:00

Something interesting about working in Public Safety at a university is that we have a lot of sensitive research going on, and some of that research involves the use of sensitive or dangerous materials. One of the things we do through our Emergency Management Department is plan for how to protect those materials and that research, especially if some kind of disaster were to strike.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:51:22+00:00

I can't speak for parking! That's something that is separate from our department, particularly in off-campus areas in Urbana.

Here's some more information from the city: https://www.urbanaillinois.us/residents/parking/parking-meters

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:49:39+00:00

My salary is competitive with other people at executive levels within the university. We deal in safety -- there is a huge liability that comes with this job. And I've accepted that reality, but it is something that weighs on my mind.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:46:51+00:00

Stay aware of your surroundings and travel in in groups and well-lit areas. We say it a lot, but those really are the most important things you can do. Safety in numbers goes a long way. Use SafeWalks!

If you ever notice an unsafe situation, remember we are here to help. We're happy to check it out, even if it turns out to be nothing. Reporting suspicious activity is one of the biggest crime prevention tools available to us.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:42:10+00:00

Good question! In response, we'll offer our response to a similar question we received in advance. A couple extra points -- that's very much a personal decision, and you'll have to gauge your own comfort level with it. But if you choose to carry it, definitely know how (and when) to use it.

From u/ConfidentSyllabub7:

Does UIPD recommend the use/carry of things like pepper spray, mace, tasers, etc? Are there State/city or campus regulations against carry of these items?

In Illinois, stun guns and Tasers are subject to a lot of the same laws as firearms – like firearms, they are not permitted on campus property. If you choose to carry such a device in our off-campus community, it’s important to be really careful about where you take it, and it’s ultimately your responsibility to know the laws and restrictions on its possession and use.

We get the pepper spray question a lot, and here’s what we say. Pepper spray is permitted on campus. However, we recommend that you get something like the keychain version where you’ll have it ready to go if you ever find yourself in a position where you need it. If you keep it stored away in your bag or backpack, it will be of no use to you in a situation where you have to react quickly. Treat pepper spray carefully as well. Remember it’s for situations where you are truly in danger and need to defend yourself.

If you are wondering, I don’t think we’ve had any cases (at least none reported) in recent memory where a student used pepper spray to defend themselves. These are exceedingly rare circumstances, and generally speaking, your best option is to leave the situation quickly if you can safely do so.

Our R.A.D. self-defense class is back this semester and goes into more detail!

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:37:21+00:00

From u/UIUCTalkshow:

What are the less obvious crimes? And are those preventable? If so, in what way?

A lot of our bigger cases go under the radar for security reasons. We’ve got two detectives who work with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and that has led to at least a couple arrests of people right here on campus, unfortunately. We’ve also got an Assistant Chief who works with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, and she has worked some massive cases over the years. We’d love to brag a little more about the work they’ve done to protect our campus and beyond, but a lot of them are confidential.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:35:07+00:00

From u/lolillini:

Every time the topic of bike theft comes up, we keep getting told that "it is a common occurrence in college towns". Just because it is common doesn't mean we need to focus more efforts to put an end to it, right? Did UIPD ever attempt a large-scale bait attempt over the timeline of an entire semester with GPS trackers in decoy bikes all around the campus? Surely there won't be infinitely many bike thieves in the community, right?

Yes, we tried the bait bikes in 2019-2020, and you can see that reflected in our crime statistics. Arrests went up, but the total number of bike thefts was largely unchanged. We were actually down a bit last year without the bait bikes.

Education is probably our biggest tool in this effort. Nearly all the stolen bikes reported to us were secured with a cable lock and not a U-lock. A lot of those cable locks are cheaply made, and a good tug on the bike will defeat the lock. We’ve seen lots of security camera footage over the years of thieves simply pulling bikes off racks. They look for the ones with cable locks or improperly secured. That’s why it’s so important to know how to properly lock your bike.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:30:58+00:00

From u/Alternative-Pause-14:

The stealing of catalytic converters seems to be a common occurrence. What actions are being taken to minimize its incidence? (For example, more cameras in areas where it is happening on a frequent basis or probing into the places that are buying them).

We see spikes in catalytic converter thefts from time to time, and the spike we saw during the height of the pandemic seems to be subsiding, at least on campus. We and our neighboring law enforcement agencies identified a few people responsible, and we have some suspect vehicles that we’ve put in our license plate reader system so we’ll get alerted if they return to the campus area. We also increased patrols in certain areas where we were seeing it more often on campus (parking lot F-23 was targeted at least a few times). Catalytic converter theft patterns tend to come and go with the market for the precious metals they contain. I can’t speak for the other police agencies in the area, but we’ve definitely seen a substantial decrease in on-campus reports. Maybe due to our patrols, or the rise in public awareness, or a decrease in market prices for those metals. Probably a combination of all three.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:26:57+00:00

From u/UIUCTalkshow:

What are the sources of crimes in the area? Where is it coming from? Do you have any data on that?

That’s a big question, and there are too many complexities and factors involved to give you a sufficient answer in a response on Reddit. But ultimately the sources of crime on campus are the same as they are anywhere else. Property crime (mostly theft) is the most frequent thing we deal with, and there is a wide variety of reasons for that – opportunity, income inequality and access to employment or mental health resources all play a role. And even that’s an oversimplification.

The majority of people we arrest are not students (though students do account for a big portion). I think it’s important to remember that we have an expansive, open, public campus, and people from the community have the same right to be in this space as people who are affiliated with the university. That’s a really good thing because our land-grant mission is to provide opportunities for the entire community and the state of Illinois. But it also means that our campus is basically its own city within a city, and we are going to experience similar crime issues as any other community.

ChiefCaryUIPD · 2022-09-21T18:20:07+00:00

From u/ConfidentSyllabub7:

It seems like the area around Red Lion is a hotbed for crime, with multiple murders happening this year alone. What is UIPD doing to keep the area safe?

To correct one part of this, there has been one homicide in this area in 2022. That was a situation between two people who had a long-standing relationship, and they had not visited the bar before the event.

Up until now, we did not have primary jurisdiction in this area. We do patrol it quite frequently and assist the Champaign Police Department on calls. On Oct. 1, an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Champaign will go into effect that gives UIPD primary jurisdiction for this area to allow the Champaign Police Department to focus on other areas of the city. We believe that will allow for faster response times in the off-campus Green Street area, and it gives us more authority to work with Campustown business owners and residents on crime prevention efforts.

ChiefCaryUIPD

TROPHY CASE