Chapel Hill residents called for action after George Floyd’s murder. Here’s the plan.

A diverse community task force laid out a path Wednesday for Chapel Hill to address and dismantle structural racism and bias, reform policing and build more community support for all residents.

The Reimagining Community Safety Task Force began meeting in October to discuss community calls for action following the June 2020 protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other police-involved deaths.

The task force’s recommendations and action items for the council prioritize affordable housing, jobs, educational equity, and mental health and substance abuse services.

The final report represents what Chapel Hill should be doing and how it should lead, said council member Karen Stegman.

“It was a bold effort, and we didn’t always know what we were doing, and you guys were patient and hung in there and we got it going,” Stegman said. “You guys had powerful conversations and challenged each other and wrestled with really important topics, and it shows in this report.”

Stegman and council members Tai Huynh and Allen Buansi served as liaisons during the task force discussions. They thanked its members for their hard work.

Council members voted unanimously to forward the report to staff, who will spend the summer coming up with a timeline and ideas for moving forward. The town’s budget includes $100,000 to begin implementing the recommendations.

Council member Jessica Anderson was absent Wednesday.

Mayor Pam Hemminger encouraged task force members and the public to join the council’s conversation after the summer break.

“This topic deserves a full robust discussion, and we’re going to do that in the fall,” she said.

The task force grew out of a council resolution last year that also aligned Chapel Hill Police Department policies with 8 Can’t Wait reforms, such as ending traffic stops for regulatory and equipment issues and requiring officers to report violations by other officers.

In September, the council met with Police Chief Chris Blue to ensure the local policy expressly prohibited neck restraints, carotid restraints and chokeholds. The town also has talked with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, which is considering the future of school resource officers.

Task force recommendations

The task force delivered 28 recommendations and 31 action items for the council to consider. They include:

▪ Removing criminal records as a barrier to public housing and incentivizing landlords to do the same for private housing.

▪ Requiring an annual, independent audit of public safety improvements.

▪ Create police diversion policies for drug charges, non-safety traffic violations and non-first-time offenders.

▪ Address town ordinances that “criminalize poor or marginalized individuals,” such as noise, open container, public urination and panhandling rules.

▪ Expand programs and support services for young people.

▪ Continue working with the police department, community and the town’s Community Policing Advisory Committee to reduce the number of armed, uniformed officers and use civilian workers in some roles, such as parking enforcement, traffic accident response, nonviolent crisis response, and routine safety patrols.

▪ Expand the Street Outreach, Harm Reduction, and Deflection Program (SOHRAD), establish a 24-hour non-police crisis response team that includes paramedics and mental health clinicians and expand the department’s existing Crisis Response Team.

▪ Restructure the county’s 911 system so calls that don’t need a police response can be handled by other personnel and establish a non-911 number for people to call for a non-armed response.

The task force report noted that the recommendations could take years to implement. The town should continue to work with the public, as well as the county, Carrboro, UNC and other partners to achieve its goals, the group said.

“It is urgent to start action now, but there will need to be sustained effort from now on,” the report stated. “We hope that these recommendations and Council’s follow-through will set Chapel Hill on a path toward greater community justice, more community happiness and thus, greater community safety.”