Chapel Hill Town Council may hire private investigator to look into Yates raid

The Chapel Hill Town Council could vote to pay for an investigation into the November police raid of an encampment at the abandoned Yates Motor Company building as early as next week.

At a Tuesday night meeting, the Community Policing Advisory Committee finalized a request that asks the council to fund a private investigation into the controversial raid.

On Nov. 13, police wielding assault weapons removed “Occupy Everything” protesters from an abandoned, privately-owned building on Franklin Street in a maneuver that many labeled a brutal overreaction.

Chapel Hill launched an internal review into the incident in November, and early this month Town Manager Roger Stancil released conclusions supporting the police action.

But many say the report — based on police records and other official statements ­— didn’t go far enough, and some dispute Stancil’s conclusion that threats to public safety justified police actions.

Town Council asked the advisory committee to investigate the report in response to the complaints.

The committee determined that an additional factual report is necessary to support the manager’s report, and that this would be best accomplished with the assistance of an investigator.

“I think we have an obligation to the town to look beyond the manager’s report,” said committee Chairman Ron Bogle. “Our challenge as a committee is to make the case to the Town Council that we need a private investigator, not necessarily what the process is for that.”

Bogle said the committee could not yet estimate the potential costs of hiring an investigator, but committee members stressed the importance of a timeline for the next review.

“Things hinge on whether or not we get approval for the funding, and then from there, how are we going to organize ourselves to pick this private investigator,” said committee member Anita Badrock.

The committee’s decision to hire an independent investigator follows months of controversy regarding who should review the events.

Chapel Hill resident Jim Neal proposed that a committee of residents unaffiliated with town government review the police action. His proposal gained support at a Jan. 9 Town Council meeting, where protesters voiced opposition to Stancil’s report.

But the council didn’t establish a commission that night, leaving the matter to the advisory committee.

After two meetings of discussion, the committee reviewed and finalized its request for an independent investigator Tuesday. It approved adding the measure to the council’s Jan. 23 agenda.

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