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Chief “excited” over city’s crime trends

By Randy Bell

Chief “excited” over city’s crime trends

In 2013, there were 174 residential burglaries in Clinton. In 2022, there were eight. It’s a category of crime that’s been dropping steadily in the last ten years. Other felony offenses have also decreased substantially.

“Our officers are proactively seeking out criminal behavior in the city,” says Police Chief Ford Hayman. “They take their job seriously, and we take it personally when our community is affected by crime. We will resume our hard work in 2023.”

A year-over-year comparison shows the number of home burglaries dropped from 13 in 2021. Only one armed robbery was reported in 2022, compared to five the year before. And Clinton didn’t have a single carjacking last year after three in 2021.
But the number of business burglaries was flat, with five reported in each of the last two years. And auto burglaries were up from 28 in 2021 to 43 last year following a rash of break-ins during the summer. The chief says three sets of thieves accounted for most of those burglaries.

“The good news is that all of the suspects were identified and arrested quickly before they could continue their criminal behavior,” says Hayman. “Most of the victims left their vehicles unlocked, which presents an easy opportunity for auto burglars. I wish that all citizens would adhere to our ‘Lock It or Lose It’ campaign. Locked cars significantly decrease opportunity for criminals.”

“Overall, I am excited to see our crime numbers continuing to decrease or at least remain relatively stable.”

Hayman is continuing efforts to beef up the local police force.

“We are seeking highly qualified officers to add to our staff.”



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