When Timothy Tyler applied for the Champaign Police Chief position in 2022, the Champaign City Council was given his “resumes and cover letters and recommendations — things of that nature,” according to Council member Davion Williams.
New documents obtained through open records requests by Invisible Institute and IPM Newsroom suggest the council was not privy to a more detailed accounting of Tyler’s policing history, which is marked by a trail of disciplinary actions and other incidents ranging from suspensions for “unfavorable” conduct while serving with the Illinois State Police to entanglements in several federal civil rights lawsuits.
After receiving information and questions about Tyler’s background and disciplinary history from Invisible Institute and IPM Newsroom, City Council member Davion Williams forwarded the email to City Manager Dorothy Ann David and asked, “Were we aware of these incidents as a city?”
This story is part of a partnership focusing on police misconduct in Champaign County between the Champaign-Urbana Civic Police Data Project of the Invisible Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit public accountability journalism organization, and IPM Newsroom, which provides news about Illinois & in-depth reporting on Agriculture, Education, the Environment, Health, and Politics, powered by Illinois Public Media. This investigation was supported with funding from the Data-Driven Reporting Project, which is funded by the Google News Initiative in partnership with Northwestern University | Medill.