How Police Handle A Crisis

Earlier this week, police shut down streets in downtown Carrboro for 18 hours after a man climbed to the roof of the Hampton Inn and threatened to jump.

The situation began around 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday and lasted until 8:30 Wednesday morning, when the man was safely removed from the roof. It took a coordinated effort from many local agencies – not just Carrboro police, but also Carrboro fire officials, Carrboro public works officials, Orange County EMS, and the police departments of Cary and Chapel Hill.

What was the Chapel Hill PD’s role in the operation?

“We became involved almost immediately from a traffic standpoint – it was necessary to block off both Rosemary Street and Franklin Street, and our officers assisted in that,” says Chapel Hill Police Sgt. Bryan Walker. “Our negotiators were also involved fairly early on…

“It was early in the incident that it was clear that it was going to become something that Carrboro could use assistance on, and when they requested us, we went.”

Negotiators from Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Cary Police were all on the scene throughout the situation, speaking with the individual on the roof. Sgt. Walker says the Chapel Hill police department has at least five trained negotiators on staff, for instances like this.

“They come from different divisions within the department,” says Walker. “Some of our civilian crisis counselors are trained negotiators, and then we also have police officers that are trained as well.”

Rarely do we hear about how police officers handle negotiation and crisis management – but Sgt. Walker says it’s a vital part of the role of police, in Chapel Hill-Carrboro and everywhere.

“People typically don’t call 911 because they’re having a good day,” he says. “We see people in some of the worst situations of their entire lives, and it’s important that our officers are well-trained to recognize those situations and deal with them appropriately…

“We are very serious about training our officers to respond to these types of things.”

Carrboro police have not released the identity of the individual in this week’s incident, except to say that he was a man believed to be in his early 20s. He was taken to UNC Hospitals for evaluation.