Police chief provides crime statistics update

By Randy Bell

Clinton’s police chief uses four categories of felony property crime as a barometer to show how well his department is doing its job.  Chief Ford Hayman told the Board of Aldermen May 5 that, last year, the city had a combined total of sixty auto burglaries, residential burglaries, business burglaries and grand larcenies, the fewest since he became chief ten years ago.

“At any time, I can look at those numbers and I can tell you where we are,” Hayman said.

The 2025 total represented a sixty-five per cent reduction in burglaries and larcenies compared to 2016, and this year has gotten off to an even better start, with only eight of those crimes reported so far.

“We spend a lot of time dedicating ourselves to lowering those numbers, because, if we take care of these things, the overall health of the city with crime in general is very manageable,” the chief said, while pointing out that there’s still some work to be done.

“We’re still a little high in residential and business burglaries,” he said.  “We’re working to reduce those.  But I’m pretty confident that no one is coming home, finding their door kicked in and everything gone.”

Hayman said the only thing better than a low number of crimes would be no crimes at all.

“They’re not zeros.  That’s what I want to see.”

And he said citizens can help reduce auto burglaries by making it harder for the thieves to get inside.

“About ninety-nine per cent of our automobile burglaries are unlocked vehicles.  Lock ‘em up.”

He challenges the popular notion that leaving a car unlocked prevents a window from being broken.  The chief said most auto burglars who find a locked car will move on.

“That’s the trend that we are seeing.  [Thieves] are not busting glass.”

While Hayman’s presentation to the Board focused on property crimes, he notes that there were three armed robberies in Clinton last year, up from two the year before, but down substantially from the eight recorded in 2016.  There’s been one armed robbery so far this year.