"I think the reason for thinking that it’s biased toward the police is that he came down in favor of the police in all his evaluations, so I totally get that," Weinstein said. "And it’s just hard to say when you have students who were there who have publicly said, 'I saw this happen, I experienced this happening,' and he’s saying that he’s finding something else."
Interim Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz released this report to the University community on Tuesday, citing a "series of disturbing public safety incidents" and his promise to learn from the events. The report details what happened during each of the events and what recommendations the police should take from them.
Sept. 8 - Silent Sam rally
On Sept. 8, 2018, a group of Confederates organized a protest and were met with opposition from counter-protesters. Arrests were made, but the report concluded that "minimal to no" follow-up investigation was conducted to support the arrests.
The report attributed several cases being dismissed, reduced or deferred to community service to the lack of sufficient investigation following the Sept. 8 arrests.
The report also concluded that an officer's testimony regarding the Sept. 8 event was false. Swecker said the lack of investigation was a "significant factor" in the inaccurate testimony from the officer who was "honestly mistaken."
Dec. 3 - On-campus Silent Sam building protest
On Dec. 3, people congregated on Franklin Street to protest the University's proposal to house Silent Sam on campus in a building that would cost $5.3 million as well as $800,000 annually. One student was charged on the day of the protest, and another was arrested and charged the next day.
Regarding the Dec. 3 protest-related arrests, the report said there was sufficient basis for an arrest of a student on the day of the event, but concluded that an officer did not file a report about the civil disturbance.
"No such report was ever prepared after the December 3, 2018 or the September 8, 2019 events," the report said. "This failure was a missed opportunity to incorporate lessons learned into future event planning."
Among the recommendations made regarding Sept. 8 and Dec. 3 events were additional cameras being installed in McCorkle Place to cover additional blind spots, Incident Action Plans for special events detailing the protocols for ordering an arrest and more.
March 31 - Unsung Founders Memorial vandalism
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The March 31 event referred to the defacement of the Unsung Founders Memorial by Nancy McCorkle and Ryan Barnett, who have since been found guilty of injury to real property and larceny. The report said that the "young UNC-CH PD officer happened across" the vandalism and did not conduct a field investigation or notice it at the time — and therefore did not arrest McCorkle and Barnett. Later, the officer conducted a follow-up investigation that resulted in their arrest.
The report denies the allegations that the officer was sympathetic to those who defaced the memorial to enslaved people.
"Had the officer had other motivations, the officer would never have conducted such a timely and thorough investigation to solve the case," the report said.
The report recommended that police conduct additional training on the need to treat incidents involving historical monuments, artifacts or artworks in sensitive areas with "a sense of urgency and priority."
March 16 - Armed people on campus
Finally, the report brought up the March 16 event where officers did not arrest people, including convicted felon Lance Spivey, who brought guns to campus. The report concluded that after officers approached the individuals, the officers were instructed by command staff to "hold off" on arrests.
The report said there was a consensus among officers on duty that Spivey should have been arrested when he set foot on campus while armed.
"This review determined that there was confusion only at the command level as to the application of the campus firearms statute to armed individuals walking on interior campus areas," the report said.
One recommendation from this section of the report was a clear, documented policy of immediate arrest of armed intruders on UNC's interior campus.
Chief of Police David L. Perry said in a statement that UNC Police has already made progress in addressing the recommendations in the report .
"Our work to restore and enhance trust with the community is just beginning, and we understand it will take time," he said in the statement.
The report found no evidence of officers having "improper" motivations but said there were "breakdowns in police procedures and practices the actions or inactions of law enforcement" during the course of the four events reviewed.
Weinstein said she felt this conclusion contained value judgments, when it is difficult to conclude someone's personal affiliations. Though Weinstein said she understands why it may have been important for the University to address these concerns, she was not sure how Swecker came to this conclusion.
"I’m not really sure if you can say conclusively, ‘These officers disagree with the values of white supremacy,’ and things like that," she said. "So that was a surprise to me and did feel like it was toeing the line of objectivity a little more."
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