Chief gives update on Clinton’s crime rates

By Randy Bell

Clinton’s police chief says the city’s crime numbers approaching the midpoint of 2025 were “a little higher” than he would like to see. But Ford Hayman has zero tolerance for crime.

“One is too many,” he told the Board of Aldermen at its meeting May 20, as he provided a snapshot of incidents his officers have investigated so far this year.

Some key categories were trending lower compared to 2024. There’s been a decrease in auto burglaries so far this year. According to Hayman, twelve have been reported in 2025, compared to eighteen at this point last year. But Clinton has seen an increase in business burglaries—four compared to one during the first five months of last year. Residential burglaries were flat, with two reported through May 20 in each of the last two years.

The chief told the Board that police have investigated two grand larcenies so far this year, compared to three during the same period in 2024. But that category of crime surged later in the year with Clinton ending 2024 with twenty-two grand larcenies.

In two categories of violent crime, Clinton has already seen two armed robberies in 2025 and one carjacking, the same numbers it ended the year with in ‘24.

Interestingly, according to Hayman, the carjacking in April was actually the result of another crime. He said it started as an auto burglary in which someone stole a gun from a car at a local park. The owner of the weapon chased the thief through the city, caught him, then took his vehicle at gunpoint. The chief says everyone involved was arrested.

Hayman said his officers this year made 702 arrests through May 20, with more than half of those for contempt of court.

“That is the people that the traffic unit (the patrolling officers), when they issue citations, the people ignore the citations; they just don’t come to court,” the chief explained.

And Hayman believes that when the scofflaws are arrested, it has a positive effect on the city’s crime rate.

“I think that the action of jailing an offender for that, holding them accountable, is driving crime down. I think if we get a little lazy in our actions and those [contempt of court arrest] numbers trend down, I think you would see crime trend up just a little bit. And [that’s] definitely not what we’re going to do.”

Ward 5 Alderwoman Beverly Oliver told the chief that Clinton police have a “bad reputation” among some of her former co-workers in other parts of the metro area. And by “bad,” she means “good.”

“They were [saying], ‘if you go to Clinton, you’d better slow down, and you’d better act right,’” Oliver recalled. “So, I like that reputation.”