Campustown strip-mall owner weary of gun violence, lack of city help – Champaign News-Gazette*

Since the end of May, unarmed security guards have been downtown from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, to supplement city officers. They are contracted to be there through the end of 2022. Plagued for more than a year with police staffing shortages, the city has also agreed to pay the UI to add officers who, beginning Oct. 1, will continuously patrol the area.