Chris Blue is Chapel Hill’s next police chief, the town announced today.
Blue has served in the Chapel Hill Police Department for 13 years and will succeed Brian Curran, who will step down at the end of November.
- Courtesy of the Town of Chapel Hill
- Chapel Hill native Chris Blue will take the reins Dec. 1.
“I have selected the very best police chief for this community,” Town Manager Roger Stancil said in a statement.
“He will become a key part of improving the quality of life and making Chapel Hill a better place to live for all.”
Blue currently holds the assistant chief post, a job he earned after working his way up from patrol officer to a sergeant, a lieutenant and a captain.
He is a Chapel Hill native.
“I look forward to continuing the work started by Chief Brian Curran to strengthen our agency’s community policing efforts,” Blue said in the same press release.
“The Chapel Hill Police Department is made up of outstanding men and women, and I am excited to lead them as we continue this important work.”
Blue was one of five internal candidates for the chief’s office, but the only one to actively seek the job. He completed an assessment center process that ranked his ability to solve problems and act professionally and ethically. It included evaluations by peers, subordinates and supervisors.
Stancil said he wanted to look internally to continue Curran’s progress on a more community-based policing approach. Blue has been central to the department’s push to create its first strategic plan.
Curran created the assistant chief post and charged Blue with preparing the $12 million annual operating budget and managing Halloween festivities on Franklin Street.
