As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Chapel Hill, the question of how students in the community will comply with COVID-19 safety regulations continues to be a big concern for Chapel Hill Police.
On Monday, UNC announced that it will move to a fully remote learning model on Wednesday, August 19 after reporting a spike in COVID-19 cases. This news comes after the campus community was alerted to four identified clusters of COVID-19 cases within dorms and a fraternity house this past weekend.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services defines a “cluster” as five or more cases that are deemed close proximity.
Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue said even in light of these clusters and new cases, the department continues to see student gatherings and behaviors that are counterintuitive to easing pandemic restrictions.
In these instances where he and his officers find a violation, Blue said their process is to warn, to educate and to document.
“We tell those folks ‘If we come back to the same violation here, there won’t be another warning. We will charge you with a violation of the Governor’s order,’” Blue said. “That is a misdemeanor charge – it is a criminal violation. We don’t take that lightly, which is part of why we are not issuing them on our first visit.”
Blue said, what Chapel Hill Police are trying to do right now amid a pandemic is the same thing they do at the beginning of every academic school year – establish visibility, remind everyone that students and year-round residents are all part of the same community and to encourage respect for the other.
“That means turn your music down, that means don’t park in somebody’s yard, and under current circumstances, that means let’s keep each other safe by following all the guidelines associated with the pandemic,” Blue said.
While the department is not receiving any more calls than usual for the start of a normal school year, Blue said people are paying closer attention to their neighbors.
“They’re quick to call with a level of description that is unusually detailed about what they’ve seen,” Blue said. “So people are paying attention and I suppose that’s good – and that kind of vigilance maybe will lead to us all getting where we need to be.”
Blue said everyone needs to comply with the law to keep the community safe and healthy. To help do this, the number of officers patrolling neighborhoods near campus have been increased. Blue said this extra patrolling will become practice moving forward.
Officers on patrol are also making it a standard to follow up with students who have broken campus, state and community regulations.
“We work closely with our university partners on follow-ups,” Blue said. “There are times when these calls are at a Greek house, and so it’s important for us to not only engage with the people who were participating in the activity, but then also to talk to alumni advisors and other folks who have an advisory role for the Greek house. So we have a multidisciplinary group that every week will meet, we’ll talk about the events of the last week and figure out where some follow-up needs to happen.”
To learn more about the Chapel Hill Police Department and their response to COVID-19, you can visit the town’s website here.
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