FEBRUARY 28, 2020
City Deflects Crowd in Wake of Police Brutality Allegations
by David Larson
Monday evening’s City Council Committee of the Whole was held with a heavy police presence both inside and outside of City Hall. Recently WREX 13 news reporter Kristin Crowley reported allegations of extreme police brutality by members of the Belvidere Police force going back nearly two decades and the settling of lawsuits totaling in the six figures.
With a standing room only crowd extending out of the City Council Chamber into the hallway, no notification was given to the audience of the custom, that if a member of the public would like to address the Council, the speaker is required to sign up to do so before the meeting begins. As a result no member of the public preregistered to speak, and no one wad given the opportunity to address the Council.
It became obvious that there was an “elephant in the room”, according to Alderwomen Freeman, who requested a response from the Mayor why it was being ignored.
Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlin consulted the city attorney who stated that as long as no voting action was taken it would be permissible to suspend the rules and open the meeting for comment and return to the meeting once the suspension had concluded. Instead the Mayor suggested it be put on the agenda of a future meeting and Alderwomen Freeman did not object.
After the meeting was conducted , an ad hoc discussion broke out in the hallway as well as members of the public giving interviews to WREX. At that point Mayor Chamberlin and Chief of Police Shane Woody invited those remaining back into the council chamber for informal discussion
Above is from this Friday’s Boone County Journal
