Chapel Hill Police Department

Jurisdiction and responsibilities

Chapel Hill Police is the town’s municipal police department. Chapel Hill extends into Orange and Durham counties; county boundaries should therefore be checked when identifying the court or county office associated with an incident. The department is institutionally separate from UNC-Chapel Hill Police and UNC Hospitals Police. Its current agency website lists its police location at 7300 Millhouse Road. Older county contact lists showing Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard should not be substituted for that current address.

How the agency is organized

The department’s service portal includes reporting, house checks, alarm registration, complaints and compliments, public reports, and permits. A distinctive component is the Crisis Division. Its co-responding counselors accompany officers and help with behavioral-health needs and referrals. The CARE Team, operated in partnership with Orange County, can respond without police officers to specified behavioral-health and related needs. These response models should be distinguished when describing what a police response actually involved.

Agency history and local context

The town dates the creation of its Crisis Division to 1973. Its published history presents that division as an early collaboration between law enforcement and human-service professionals.

Official records and officer resources

The town publishes a recruitment portal and semiannual department reports. The records service distinguishes a local arrest check, limited to arrests made by Chapel Hill Police within town limits, from broader court or county records. Consult the current records page for application methods and the relevant office. A town police report request and a Clerk of Court inquiry serve different purposes. Emergencies should be reported through 911.

FBI data · 2025

The following figures are from the FBI’s 2025 published agency tables. They describe a reporting period, not current staffing or an assessment of agency performance.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer downloads, table 8; published agency label: Chapel Hill. CIUS_Table_8_Offenses_Known_to_Law_Enforcement_by_State_by_City_2025.xlsx

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer downloads, table 78; published agency label: Chapel Hill. Table_78_Full_time_Law_Enforcement_Employees_by_State_by_Cities_2025.xlsx

Blank or unavailable values remain “Not published.” Participating agencies and reporting scope vary. Campus figures concern the reporting institution; a city name does not expand them to all local residents. Read the data definitions and limitations.

NC SBI data · 2024

The NC SBI record is published under Chapel Hill. Its 2024 reporting-status table lists: Reporting. These earlier figures are presented separately from the FBI’s 2025 tables.

Published Index-crime total: 1,720.

Sources: SBI agency reporting status · SBI law-enforcement personnel · SBI Index offenses by agency in county.

Personnel are a dated full-time payroll snapshot. Civilian classifications can include jail employees without outside police powers. These are not authorized-position or vacancy counts. Index-crime totals cover selected categories and are not totals of all crime.

Sources and review date

Official agency, government and institutional sources are linked below. Contact details and organizational information were reviewed September 24, 2026. Published statistical years are identified separately.

• Chapel Hill — current police location and services
• Chapel Hill — Crisis Division
• Chapel Hill — records services and permits
• Chapel Hill — official comprehensive plan, town spans Orange and Durham counties