By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL – Postponing a decision on whether to hire an outside investigator to report on incidents surrounding the Nov. 13 raid of the former Yates Motor Co. building, the Chapel Hill Town Council voted unanimously on Monday to refer a petition requesting the investigator to staff.
The town’s Community Policing Advisory Committee submitted the petition after the town council referred the review to the committee, voting not to consider a measure proposing an independent review of the events. CPAC members said they felt they needed the assistance of an outside investigator to adequately review the incident, noting the extensive time involved in interviewing involved parties.
“For the Community Policing Advisory Committee to effectively do its work, we feel that we need to develop a full and complete factual review of all the circumstances,†CPAC Chair Ron Bogle said.
Bogle noted that the committee’s request was not a criticism of the internal review conducted by Town Manager Roger Stancil and police Chief Chris Blue – which stated that the actions of police were the best decisions that could have been made given the information available at the time – but that the CPAC needed additional facts about the incident.
The council’s referral of the petition is in accordance with council procedure, and staff will report back to the council at its meeting on Monday.
The committee’s request did not include a cost estimate of hiring an investigator, and council members said they would like more information before making a decision. However, the majority of council members seemed to indicate that they would not be in favor of hiring the investigator, noting the obstacles that any potential outside investigator would face.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that an independent investigator isn’t going to be able to do what I thought it would initially and maybe what the committee is hoping it would do,†council member Jim Ward said, adding that an outside investigator would not be able to compel witnesses to testify or put them under oath to ensure truthful testimony.
“It vexes me for the town to take $15,000 or more away from another program, which is desperately needed, in order to pay for an outside investigator,†council member Matt Czajkowski said.
“You could potentially end up with statements that are intentionally false or at lease false … by accident, and so it seems like a real risk to me.â€
Council members Laurin Easthom and Lee Storrow said they would support an outside investigator.
“The police should not be the total fact-finding committee. They’re partial to what happened, which is fine. The town manager is not the fact-finder in this case,†Easthom said. “I think we need to have a separate entity to do that work.â€
Easthom also said that the CPAC could potentially find an investigator who was willing to work on the case pro-bono.
Concerns have been raised about the police’s response to the occupation of the building, which began the night of Nov. 12 – led, reportedly, by attendees of the Carrboro Anarchist Bookfair – and resulted in a dramatic encounter with police the afternoon of Nov. 13, with seven arrests.
Residents have questioned the police’s failure to communicate with those inside the building prior to the raid, in which a police Special Emergency Response Team brandished long-range rifles and detained those on the sidewalk outside the entrance of the building, including two journalists, before rushing inside.
Members of the public who spoke at Monday’s meeting were split on the matter of hiring an outside investigator.
“Half of the facts are out there. The other half still lie in limbo, and it’s the other half of the facts that we need to get at,†said resident Barry Freeman, who said he supports an outside investigator. “[The issues] will fester if all of this is not brought to light.â€
Stephen Greenslade said he was sitting on the sidewalk outside the Yates building during the raid and had a gun held to his head.
“And what was my crime? Sitting on the sidewalk,†he said. “Because of my proximity to this situation … I had my life put in danger.â€
“We’re not going to move forward until we find resolution as to why this went so horribly wrong this time,†he added, noting the importance of an independent review.
Former Chapel Hill Mayor Rosemary Waldorf told the council that she was opposed to hiring an outside investigator and that she felt that she was “part of a silent majority who’s become kind of more and more concerned.â€
“I think a lot of us are ready for the community to move on,†she said.
“Some use of force was justified. Whether it was a SERT team, I don’t know. I’m not a police officer,†Waldorf said. “I do think the trespassers should have been asked to leave. I think that that mistake has been acknowledged.â€
Resident Pamela Ransohoff said she does not support the outside investigation.
“These people illegally entered the building. It is called lawlessness,†she said. “The police did their job and they did it well. … We hardly have the money to pay $15,000 or more for an outside investigation.â€
A larger discussion
A number of council members said the Yates incident and the Occupy Chapel Hill/Carrboro protest have brought to light the need for the council to have a discussion on civil disobedience and law-breaking.
“I personally believe that we have to think about that differently when people are using civil disobedience for a political purpose and to protect that freedom of speech,†Storrow said.
“People who entered the Yates building did break the law … but I believe that the people who chose to enter the Yates building chose to enter that specific building. They chose to enter that building to make a specific political point.â€
Last week, Stancil sent the council a memo regarding the town’s decision not to enforce certain ordinances when the Occupy Chapel Hill /Carrboro movement began occupying Peace and Justice Plaza, citing the need for a council discussion regarding such issues.
“The Occupy Movement vacated the Peace and Justice Plaza on Jan. 10, 2012. The group’s decision to vacate the Plaza presents a timely opportunity for us to consider enforcement of adopted ordinances and established policies and procedures regulating the use of the Peace and Justice Plaza and all other public spaces and facilities,†Stancil wrote, continuing, “Moving forward, I plan to ensure that all adopted ordinances and established policies and procedures regulating the use of public spaces and facilities, including but not limited to those mentioned in this report, are enforced by Town staff to the extent possible.â€Â
In response to Stancil’s memo, Occupy Chapel Hill/Carrboro released a statement:
“We reserve the right of citizens to assemble. We reflect the despair, dreams and sentiments of thousands of town residents angry with economic injustice and inequality at local and global levels. Roger Stancil as town manager is attempting to privatize public space with threats of arbitrary enforcement of ordinances that effectively prohibit free speech and assembly. This is a global issue that the Occupy movement organized to confront.â€