Chapel Hill Police Cheif Brian Curran to retire at end of November

At 55 years young, there’s still a lot Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran wants to do once he retires.

But first he’s going to relax.

“Initially I’m going to chill. Play some golf. Learn how to play some tennis,” said Curran, who has served as chief for three years. “Just not be on call for a while, give myself some time to decompress.”

Although Curran announced his retirement through a town memo in the spring, he said media outlets didn’t pick up on the news until an assistant chief kicked up some dust while trying to schedule a retirement reception slated for Nov. 18.

Curran will leave the department at the end of next month, ending a long career spent in civil service.

“I’m retirement age, and I’ve got my 30 years in the system,” he said. “That adds into it, too.”
Curran said the hardest part of his job as chief has been dealing with the politics that come with the territory.

“The police work and stuff, I’ve been used to for a long time,” he said. “In the chief role you’re tending to spend a lot of your time balancing competing interests.

“Your employees have certain interests, you’ve got different community groups that are opposed to each other and perhaps opposed to you, and all of that is political.”

Curran said the case that took the largest toll on him was that of former UNC Student Body President Eve Carson, who was found murdered in 2008.

“And it wasn’t that I was working the case,” Curran said. “I was just trying to shield the people that were working the case from you guys,” he said, referring to the media.

Curran was selected for the position after former Police Chief Gregg Jarvies retired in 2007.
Curran didn’t apply for the job during the initial search to replace Jarvies, who is a close friend.

Curran was chosen from a second pool of 50 applicants after the selected police chief — former Fayetteville Police Chief Tom McCarthy — learned of health problems that prevented him from taking the position.

Jarvies said Curran has served the agency well, and he had always planned on leaving once he reached the retirement threshold.

“He’s always talked about there being a life after police work, which there has to be,” Jarvies said. “He’s still got a child who’s not yet done with school.

“I know he’s talked about spending more time with his daughter and his wife and not spending what probably seems like every waking moment on the job.”

Jarvies said although the staff at the police department is more than capable, the pressure of being police chief can take its toll.

“I know what that’s like when you can pass things on to someone else, and you’ve survived,” he said. “I know he’s looking forward to getting out of the pressure cooker like all of us do.”

Curran said a goal he wasn’t able to achieve was finding a new space for the Public Safety Department. The current building was built in 1982 for a staff of about 60.

“It’s got about 140 something employees now, crammed into the same space,” he said. “The place is showing some age.”

Curran said there could be a window to close on a new location in the next three years.

Chapel Hill police spokesman Lt. Kevin Gunter said Town Manager Roger Stancil will decide whether an interim chief will be appointed once Curran leaves.

He said Stancil reserves the right to appoint an assistant chief to take over Curran’s position.

“I’ve known Brian for a number years, and he’s been a great member of the force,” Gunter said. “He will be missed.”