“Weak,” “one-sided” and “insubstantial.”

A new advisory panel reviewing the Chapel Hill Police Department’s removal of squatters from a former downtown car dealership blasted an official town report that stood by the police raid this week. (See that story here.)

So you’d think Town Council member and committee liaison Donna Bell might be feeling the heat.  

Not so, says Bell, who says she asked to serve on the new Community Policing Advisory Committee.

While she can’t predict whether the council will grant the committee’s request to hire an outside investigator to review the Yates Motor Co. incident, Bell says it’s good the committee is asking questions.   

“I don’t think any report is complete until someone has read it and asked questions,” Bell says. “It is not a shock or surprise that the mayor and the police chief didn’t answer all the questions.”

The committee’s discussions speaks well of Chapel Hill, she adds.

“There are very few towns that could even have this conversation,” she says. “When extraordinary things happen we need some clear eyes to give us perspective. We’re never going to do everything right.”    

Look for more on the advisory committee's discussion coming this Sunday in The Chapel Hill News.