Chapel Hill Police Department holds series of meetings to address goals

Correction (October 14, 12:59 a.m.): Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story misattributed multiple quotes to Lt. Kevin Gunter, spokesman for the Chapel Hill Police Department. Chris Blue, assistant police chief for administration, said the quotes. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

A local police department’s series of community meetings will begin tonight and carry into next week in an attempt to gain feedback from residents on a new plan designed to enhance policing of the area.

A Chapel Hill Police Department employee committee of 11 officers and staff members compiled a draft of goals for community feedback.

“We’re looking for community input on our goal statements,” said Chris Blue, assistant police chief for administration. “We have developed a strategic planning process, creating a framework to guide our efforts from year to year for the future. We will continue to ask the community what they think of our plan.”

One of the goals seeks to reduce and prevent crime through data collection. Blue said this can be accomplished through increased uses of technology.

“We now have a full-time person who helps find crime trends,” Blue said. “With that information at our fingertips, we hope to be able to respond and track crime patterns better and maybe even anticipate them.”

Other goals include promoting vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian safety, improving customer service and establishing better working conditions.

“A great thing about Chapel Hill is we have an engaged community with high expectations,” Blue said. “We want to keep taking care of our officers in the way they should be treated so they can continue to do the best job they can.”

Sgt. Donnie Rhodes, a member of the committee, said they hope to start implementing goals at the beginning of next year.

“Over the next year or two, we’re going to start initiating things,” he said. “Some of these are very long-term goals, like getting a new building — that doesn’t happen quickly. We’ve already got sub-committees inside the department right now working on stuff that we can already get moving.”

Town spokeswoman Catherine Lazorko said she has been helping spread the word about the meetings through Twitter, Facebook and news releases.

She said the meetings are a opportunity for residents to communicate with a department that provides so many services.

“It’s not every police department that wants to share its strategic plan with residents,” Lazorko said.

“This department is very interested in sharing and gaining feedback from residents to help make their goals that much better.”

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