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Residents press Clinton council for police transparency after shooting incidents
Summary
Two residents urged the Clinton City Council to publish a crisis‑prevention plan and to open investigations to third‑party review after a series of shootings; one speaker said police handling of paperwork left her family exposed to death threats.
At the Sept. 8 Clinton City Council meeting, residents urged city leaders to increase police transparency and publish a crisis‑prevention plan after recent shootings in several neighborhoods.
Maria Boykin told the council her son was a gunshot victim on Aug. 25 and said paperwork containing her family’s names was later shared with a third party and posted on social media, prompting death threats. “My son was a gunshot victim,” Boykin said. She told the council she had been told by a detective that “We don't have any search warrant with your name on it or your son name on it,” and asked for help to clear the record and protect her family. City officials offered to have the city attorney and manager meet with her privately to review the matter.
Heather R. Dixon, who identified herself as a statewide crisis‑intervention specialist, urged council to build trust with Black and Brown communities, to make training records and investigations public, and to adopt a public crisis‑prevention plan. “You cannot police what people don't trust,” Dixon said, calling for community policing and for investigations to be reviewed by a third party such as the State Bureau of Investigation or Raleigh internal affairs.
Larry Sutton spoke later in the public‑comment period about workplace transparency at City Hall and asked elected officials to promote a cooperative environment among the council, the city manager and the city clerk to improve public confidence in municipal processes.
Council members and staff did not vote on a policy in response to the comments at the meeting. The mayor and staff said they would meet with Ms. Boykin, the city attorney and the city manager to attempt to resolve her immediate safety concerns and review records; Dixon’s broader requests for citywide policies and third‑party investigations were referred to future consideration. No formal action, ordinance or audit was adopted during the meeting.
The council's next steps, as stated at the meeting, were to pursue a private meeting with Ms. Boykin (city attorney and manager) and to place requests for records and possible policy items on a future agenda for further discussion.
