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UNC Police Chief Retiring After Confederate Statue Toppled

UNC

The police chief at North Carolina's flagship public university is retiring after an investigation found campus police were unprepared for demonstrators who tore down a Confederate memorial last summer.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said in a statement Friday that Jeff McCracken will leave his position in July after 26 years with the force and 12 years as top law enforcement officer.

A report commissioned by state university system officials found that because of miscommunication between police and top administrators, officers failed to install barriers around the Confederate statute nicknamed "Silent Sam" to keep protesters away.

The February report found no evidence of a conspiracy to enable the monument's toppling.

Opponents called the statue a racist symbol. Supporters considered it a marker of North Carolina and Southern heritage.

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