Joliet police review board dead – for now

A proposed citizen review board with input on Joliet police practices and policies died in committee Thursday, although advocates vowed they are not done yet.

None of the three members of the City Council Land Use and Legislative Committee made a motion to bring the plan to a vote, ending two years of indecision that Chairman Terry Morris likened to “beating a dead horse.”

Advocates, many aligned with the Will County Progressives organization, argued against labeling a citizens review board dead in Joliet.

“We’re going to keep fighting for it,” said Christine Bright, co-chair for Will County Progressives. “We have an election in April. We are looking to replace the council.”

The proposal was put back on a committee agenda for the first time since it was tabled almost a year ago when the city was looking for a new police chief and a case was made to wait for a new chief’s arrival.

Chief William Evans, who has been on the job since March, told the committee Tuesday that the department already has “several layers of review.”

Evans pointed to the department’s own internal affairs division, city manager oversight of the police department, and the Joliet Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.

He referred to an Illinois Attorney General’s Office investigation into the police department that began in September 2021, suggesting the department will remain under the watch of the state.

“They will not be going anyplace in the near future,” Evans said.

Advocates for the new review board said it would give residents a bigger say while increasing trust between citizens and police.

“We’re asking that as citizens of the city – as taxpaying citizens of the city – that we have some input,” Karl Ferrell told the committee. “At this point, there is no trust. There is mistrust, especially in certain communities.”

Ferrell also is an elected trustee for Joliet Township, although his future on the township board awaits a state appellate court’s decision on whether past felony convictions disqualify him.

Committee members pointed to Chief Evans’ comments in voicing their unwillingness to vote on a citizens review board.

“I heard what the chief has to say,” council member Joe Clement said. “There are plenty of safeguards in place already.”

Clement and council member Jan Quillman said the police department has improved under Evans’ leadership.

“At this point in time, I would have to go along with the chief and support the police department,” Quillman said.

Quillman and Clement have connections to the police department. Quillman is married to a retired Joliet police officer, and Clement retired from the department in 2020 before running for council.

“The police department runs this city,” Bright said after the meeting.

A future challenge at the polling place was evident at the committee meeting at which two potential candidates in the April 4 city election spoke for the citizens review board: Nicole Lurry, who has pulled petitions to run for city council, and Tycee Bell, who has pulled petitions to run for mayor. Suzanna Ibarra, the other co-chair for Will County Progressives, also has pulled petitions to run for council.

Lurry is the widow of Eric Lurry, whose death in January 2020 from what authorities determined to be a self-ingested drug-overdose while in police custody led to an attorney general investigation of the Joliet Police Department.

“It’s time for change in this city, and change has to happen now,” Lurry told the council.

Lurry ran unsuccessfully for the council in 2021, when Quillman was reelected and Clement was elected to his first term.