By BETH HUNDSDORFER
Capitol News Illinois
[email protected]
SPRINGFIELD – Sangamon County, its sheriff’s office and its central dispatch system on Thursday announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve an investigation spurred by the shooting of Sonya Massey.
Massey, an unarmed Black woman who was experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot in her kitchen by Sangamon County Deputy Sean Grayson who responded to Massey’s 911 call about a prowler outside her home near Springfield.
“The death of Sonya Massey was a terrible tragedy for a woman experiencing a mental health crisis, her family, and the entire Sangamon County community,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This agreement reflects Sangamon County’s commitment to instituting reform and taking action that will help improve public safety and restore trust with the community in the road ahead.”
In recent weeks, the DOJ Civil Rights Division announced the conclusion of investigations not only in Sangamon County, but also of police departments in Trenton, New Jersey; Memphis, Tennessee; Worcester, Massachusetts; and Mount Vernon, New York, as well as the Louisiana State Police.
The agreement resolves the investigation into Sangamon County and its sheriff’s office and dispatch system that was officially launched by DOJ in November into alleged discriminatory practices on the basis of race and disability by police and dispatching services.
It specifically states the DOJ did not find evidence that the county, the sheriff’s department or central dispatch discriminated in providing services, and the county did not admit any liability by entering into the agreement.
The agreement states the sheriff’s office will continue to work with Memorial Behavioral Health Center in Springfield to provide mobile crisis team services, including sending teams to mental health calls either with police or on their own, depending on the call circumstances.
The sheriff’s department agreed to review the accuracy and reliability of the current process for collecting and analyzing demographic data and make any necessary improvements.
Under the agreement, dispatchers and deputies will receive training to identify people experiencing a behavioral health crisis and how to relay that to the responder. The training will also include suicide intervention and de-escalation techniques.
The county also agreed to designate a person to review citizen complaints within 90 days. The Justice Department also requested it receive information on those citizen complaints as well as the status of the training within 90 days.
Sangamon County formed the “Massey Commission” made up of local residents after the shooting to address inequities in policing and other county services. The agreement states that the county, the dispatch system and sheriff’s department will review recommendations made by the commission.
“We are pleased that there has been swift action and we look forward to reviewing the details of the agreement,” Massey Commission Chair Jo Ann Johnson said in a news release following the announcement. “The agreement does acknowledge the work of the Massey Commission and asks the county to work collaboratively with us to incorporate our recommendations.”
Under Sangamon County’s agreement with the DOJ, the county has one year to implement the necessary changes.
Grayson was fired after he was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct charges. He remains in Macon County Jail, awaiting word on whether the Illinois Supreme Court will decide, based on the state’s new SAFE-T Act, to release him until trial.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
