A merger between the Carrboro and Chapel Hill police departments could enhance community policing in both towns in the future, government officials announced this week.

The first group of five officers could move into Chapel Hill’s police headquarters in November, according to a fact sheet from Carrboro Town Manager Patrice Toney.

A permanent consolidation could take another 18 to 24 months, she said. Carrboro will pay Chapel Hill more as each group moves into the Chapel Hill Police Department headquarters and assign a dedicated assistant chief for the transition.

Carrboro Town Council member Danny Nowell posted the fact sheet on his Facebook page and wrote about it for his Substack blog on Tuesday, but the issue has not been publicly discussed by the full council.

Chapel Hill Town Manager Ted Voorhees also announced the pending partnership in a news release Wednesday.

“Earlier this year, Carrboro leadership asked us to look into the feasibility of the Chapel Hill Police Department expanding its services to the residents of Carrboro,” Voorhees said. “As good neighbors who already frequently collaborate, we are exploring the idea, including the legal, personnel, and fiscal impacts and outcomes.”

Any formal partnership will involve public discussions and approval by both the Carrboro and Chapel Hill town councils, he said.

The Carrboro council will hold a public hearing Nov. 10, Nowell said. A Chapel Hill Town Council hearing has not been announced.

Why is Carrboro making this move now?

The Carrboro Police Department recently changed leadership, with former Chief Chris Atack announcing his retirement in mid-September and Capt. Ryan Daniels becoming interim chief on Oct. 1.

The proposal is being promoted as a way for the town to save money, protect services, and preserve the town’s “identity,” according to a fact sheet. It will also allow the towns to:

• Better coordinate on school resource officers and traffic enforcement
• Better cover vacancies, training, and major events and incidents
• Provide Carrboro police with dedicated wellness space and peer support
• Merge specialized services, including investigations, technology and emergency management

Atack’s retirement created the opportunity to merge the departments, which already share a 911 call system with Orange County and collaborate on investigations and major events, Toney said in the fact sheet.

Chapel Hill also has a 33,000-square-foot police headquarters on Millhouse Road, north of town near Interstate 40, with room to accommodate Carrboro officers, she said. Carrboro’s police headquarters, located in the historic Century Center downtown, needs major renovations.

The transition is also seen as an opportunity to efficiently recover from Tropical Storm Chantal, which destroyed multiple police vehicles last year, Toney said, noting FEMA is not going to help the town pay for new vehicles.

In addition, she said, fuel and inflation costs are rising as state voters prepare to vote on three constitutional amendments, one of which could affect the town’s revenues by letting the state legislature cap property-tax increases that pay for town services.

What does this mean for Chapel Hill, Carrboro policing?

Chapel Hill’s news release said Carrboro would pay the town of Chapel Hill for providing services, including patrol, investigations and crisis response.

“While conversations about this possibility are ongoing, I want Chapel Hill residents to know that nothing about the community-based policing we provide to the town would change,” Police Chief Celisa Lehew said. “We would continue to deploy officers based on community needs, responding with the right personnel and the appropriate resources.”

Nowell said in his blog post that the move will meet some Carrboro residents’ desire for “contemporary, compassionate public safety that operates beyond the model of armed officer response.”

The town formed a residents’ Community Safety Task Force in 2021 to recommend ways to create a police department focused on a healthy community, racial equity, and “authentic engagement with grassroots and community organizations.”

The group’s 2023 report suggested reducing arrests and unnecessary uses of force, addressing racial inequity in policing outcomes, and relying more on alternative services for non-violent calls and those involving people with mental illness or disabilities.

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