
{"id":22816,"date":"2012-01-12T11:15:44","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T16:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=22816"},"modified":"2012-01-12T11:15:44","modified_gmt":"2012-01-12T16:15:44","slug":"council-tables-independent-yates-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/01\/12\/council-tables-independent-yates-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Council tables independent Yates review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Susan Dickson<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><br \/>\nCHAPEL HILL \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0Following a protest by some 40 residents against the findings of Town Manager Roger Stancil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report on the incidents surrounding the Nov. 13 raid of the former Yates Motor Co building, the Chapel Hill Town Council voted not to consider a measure proposing an independent review of the events, instead calling for a review by the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appointed Community Policing Advisory Committee (CPAC). <\/p>\n<p>Former U.S. Senate candidate and investment banker Jim Neal petitioned the council in November to call for the appointment of an independent review commission to research and report on the circumstances leading up to the decision by police and town officials to deploy a Special Emergency Response Team in response to the occupation of the Yates building. <\/p>\n<p>However, council members \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0who voted 5-4 not to consider a resolution supporting an independent review and 8-1 to call for a review by the CPAC \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0said they felt the review by the CPAC, which was recommended by Stancil, would be sufficient. Council members Laurin Easthom, Ed Harrison, Lee Storrow and Jim Ward voted to consider the independent review, with Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt and members Donna Bell, Matt Czajkowski, Gene Pease and Penny Rich voting against consideration. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the difference between the current standing committee that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already been organized [and the suggested commission]. \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 To rev up a second one in parallel, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the need for it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Pease said. <\/p>\n<p>Easthom cast the lone dissenting vote against the CPAC review, saying she could not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153support that effort unless there is a parallel independent review.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Ward questioned the police\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of assault rifles in the incident. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You just cannot take that risk,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and for that reason I do support an independent look into this.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>However, both Ward and Harrison said they could not support Neal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposal, which included Neal in charge of appointing the commission, since Neal had already said he believes the police acted improperly. <\/p>\n<p>Concerns have been raised about the police\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s response to the occupation, which began the night of Nov. 12 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c led, reportedly, by attendees of the Carrboro Anarchist Bookfair \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and resulted in a dramatic encounter with police the afternoon of Nov. 13, with seven arrests.<\/p>\n<p>Residents have questioned the police\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to attempt to communicate with those inside the building prior to the raid, in which police brandished long-range rifles and detained those on the sidewalk outside the entrance of the building \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including a <em>News &#038; Observer <\/em>reporter covering the occupation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c before rushing inside.<\/p>\n<p>The council also voted 5-4 on Monday to issue an apology to the press detained in the incident, with Bell, Czajkowski, Kleinschmidt and Pease dissenting. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153As reporters, sometimes they put themselves in dangerous spaces, and sometimes they have to put their heads down until the smoke clears,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bell said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like I want to apologize for our police following security measures.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p><strong>Stancil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report<\/strong><br \/>\nIn his report regarding the incident, released on Friday, Stancil stated that, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The actions of the on-scene police commanders on Nov. 13 were the best decisions that could be made given the information available at the time.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>According to the report, the decisions were made by the police chief and assistant chiefs and there was no consultation with, or decision-making by, any state or federal agency. <\/p>\n<p>The report states that police made one unsuccessful attempt to communicate with the occupants of the building when Assistant Chief Leo Vereen approached the building and was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153met by individuals wearing masks who partially surrounded him and chanted anti-police rhetoric.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>The occupants were also addressed once by members of the Downtown Partnership, according to the report. <\/p>\n<p>Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue said Monday that representatives from the partnership attempted to communicate with the occupants to ensure that they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t those involved with the art exhibit now on display at the Yates building, which at the time hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t yet been installed. <\/p>\n<p>However, Carrboro Board of Aldermen member Dan Coleman on Monday released a memo citing another police interaction with the occupants, in which an officer \u00e2\u20ac\u0153came up to the driveway entrance, sat on the ledge by the building and conversed with the protesters for 20-30 minutes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>According to Coleman, who said he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d heard about the interaction from a number of witnesses, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The officer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attitude was described as casual and conversational. He reportedly asked those present about their plans and activities and connection to Occupy Chapel Hill. At no time did he ask them to leave, tell them they would have to leave or advise them of any impending police action. When asked directly about police interest in the event, this officer is reported to have replied that they were \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcjust curious.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Blue said the officer involved was someone who had just come onto work that day. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They told him they intended to stay,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Blue said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t inform my decision-making.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>At the council meeting, Storrow questioned why that interaction wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t included in the report, saying that he found the omission \u00e2\u20ac\u0153disheartening.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Stancil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report on the incident is available on the town website, townofchapelhill.org<\/p>\n<p><strong>Response<\/strong><br \/>\nOn Monday night, a group led by the Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective and Croatan Earth First! staged a protest against the findings. <\/p>\n<p>Protesters marched from Peace and Justice Plaza on Franklin Street to Town Hall, holding signs that read \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Expect Resistance,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Demilitarize the Police\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Accountability=Independent Review.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>According to a statement from the groups, the report \u00e2\u20ac\u0153demonstrates that the town government is dangerously out of touch with the people of Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153minimizes the widespread outrage and condemnation of the police response, referring to it only as \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcinterest,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and refuses to endorse an independent review of the incident.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Also on Monday, a number of residents spoke to the council either in support of or against the police actions. <\/p>\n<p>Harold Horne, a former Chapel Hill police officer and a longtime resident, told town and police officials that they did a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d responding to the Yates building occupation. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You drew a bad hand that day. Civil disobedience doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t allow you to go occupy somebody else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s property. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to commend you for the job you did,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Does that mean that we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t learn from the incident? No; we can, and we can do a better job next time.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Amanda Ashley, a member of the Occupy Chapel Hill movement, said the report still leaves questions unanswered.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why was there such a rush to judgment to put people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives in danger over a rotten building?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she asked. <\/p>\n<p>Alex Kotch, who grew up in Chapel Hill, noted a nationwide trend in the increased militarization of police since 9\/11 and questioned the use of weaponry in the Nov. 13 raid. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What if someone had reached for a cell phone in a front pocket? What if someone had fought back? Would one of those many assault rifles have been fired?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I fully support the CPAC. However, it is no substitute for an external review. \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 This is a chance for the government and the law enforcement to regain that trust of its citizens \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not to lose even more of it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  <\/p>\n<p>The CPAC was scheduled to meet Wednesday night after <em>The Citizen<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s press time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following a protest by some 40 residents against the findings of Town Manager Roger Stancil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report on the incidents surrounding the Nov. 13 raid of the former Yates Motor Co building, the Chapel Hill Town Council voted not to consider a measure proposing an independent review of the events, instead calling for a review by the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appointed Community Policing Advisory Committee (CPAC).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22817,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22816\/revisions\/22817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}