Wilmington committee recommends community-driven audit of police department

Councilmember Shanae Darby introduced a resolution May 6 recommending that the administration coordinate an external, community-driven audit of the Wilmington Police Department to examine internal practices, operations and community engagement.

"As a council person, I get employees who reach out to me who are Wilmington PD, who have talked about specifically the sexism and racism within the department," Darby said, citing both employee reports and community complaints as part of the rationale for commissioning an outside review. She said the council has engaged a consultant who has been in discussions with the city for years and who, in Darby’s description, argues that police reform must be integrated with violence-prevention efforts: "we can't talk about police reform without talking about violence prevention."

Darby noted the city recently codified an Office of Community Safety and said some council members are advocating for increased budget support for that office so it can implement violence-prevention programming. She said the audit would evaluate department operations, practices and community engagement and publish trust indicators to guide reform.

Darby asked for public comment on the audit proposal; the clerk reported no online or in-person public comment. No committee vote was taken on the resolution during the meeting.