New Feature: Report a Crime

Effective January 1, 2019, the Urbana Police Department will change how it takes some crime reports on lower dollar value incidents. Crime reports on these incidents will now be accepted via a web based report form. This change is intended to make the reporting of incidents more convenient for the reporting person and make more efficient use of our on-duty officers.

The web-based report will now be self-served. This means that you will now be able to file a police report “on demand” without having to wait for a police officer to come and gather the information to complete the report. The police report has been designed to be simple to complete and provide us with the information needed. When your report is completed, you will be able to easily submit it to the Urbana Police Department. The submission will use the same website used to complete the report and will be fast and the information will be secure.

The incidents that can be reported through this new web reporting method are:

• Business Drive-offs under $150 in motor fuel/Retail Thefts under $300
• Criminal Damage to Property under $500/Theft under $500
• Bicycle Theft - value of bicycle under $500

For incidents where there is no meaningful and specific suspect information, such as a specific name of the offender or complete license plate number of a vehicle, these reports will only be taken via web report. For incidents where the above criteria is not applicable either by exceeding the dollar value or an incident where there is meaningful and specific offender information, a police officer will come and take a police report in person.

If you have any questions about completing your report form you may contact the Urbana Police Department at 217-384-2320 and speak to a Police Services Representative for assistance.