CHAPEL HILL -- The Chapel Hill Police Department will undergo specialized training in "peaceful intervention in civil disobedience" in the wake of its raid on the former Yates Motor Co. building last fall.
In a memo to the Town Council on Monday night, Town Manager Roger Stancil stood by the tactical team raid that removed seven people from the long vacant car dealership on West Franklin Street on Nov. 13.
But Stancil said the Police Department's experiences, policies and training "did not prepare us well for this combination of circumstances."
Town staff have not commented on the raid since a press conference the following day.
In his memo, Stancil said the decision-making process the day of the raid was compromised by "a breakdown of communications, both internally and externally." He did not elaborate, and the council had not discussed the memo by early Monday evening.
The raid by a group of self-described "anti-capitalist occupiers" has strained community relations. Some say the officers pointing assault rifles overreacted to a group that said it wanted to turn the building into a community center. Others defend the police, saying the squatters were on private property and had created a safety hazard and that no one was hurt in the raid.
The town has hired Investigative Security Services to help it design new policies and training that reflect the community's values, Stancil said in his memo. In a related matter, Stancil offered an alternative plan Monday night to help a town advisory board review the controversial raid.
The Community Policing Advisory Committee requested an outside investigator last week to help establish a factual timeline of events surrounding the raid.
A majority of council members rejected the idea or expressed concern, saying an investigator would not be able to compel truthful testimony and that the town could not protect anyone speaking with the investigator from possible criminal or civil liability.
Instead of an investigator, Stancil recommended Monday that the committee work with town staff to develop a website and reporting forms to gather information.
The committee would not be expected to determine any formal "findings of fact" or to determine "right and wrong," Stancil wrote in his recommendation.
Rather, members would use that information and forthcoming answers to questions they have already asked the Police Department in recommending policy changes. If the committee thought it needed more information to make its recommendations, the town could reconsider an investigator.
