Why Should Delaware Care?
A recent police shooting of a 19-year-old has quickly become one of the highest-profile use-of-force cases in Wilmington in years. The incident has sparked growing calls for transparency around what happened and renewed pressure for broader reforms to policing in the city.
Three weeks after a Wilmington police officer shot 19-year-old Kadir Skinner, several City Council members renewed calls for Mayor John Carney to conduct an external audit of the city police.
They made the calls during a council meeting Monday, where members expressed frustration with what they claimed was a lack of action taken by the Carney administration regarding police reform.
The council members pointed to a resolution they passed a month before Skinner had been killed that urged city officials to hire auditors to conduct an independent assessment of police policies and procedures.
“It is sad that we have to wait for a tragedy to happen for people to want to take action, but I do want you to know in the six years I’ve been here, there has been a push,” Councilwoman Shané Darby said at Monday’s meeting.
In a statement to Spotlight Delaware, Caroline Klinger, a spokeswoman for the mayor, did not say whether the city would initiate an external police audit, but described the idea as an “important and worthwhile discussion.”
She also referenced community safety initiatives the city has implemented, and noted that police policies and procedures are currently publicly available.
“We believe an initiative of this scope should be grounded in clear engagement with all relevant stakeholders, including council members and others, and aligned with the broader strategic vision for the city,” Klinger stated.
Also speaking at the Monday council meeting was a community advocate who referenced a recently released video showing nine minutes of the aftermath of the Skinner shooting. The video begins with the teen lying on the ground with an officer on top, cuffing his arms. In the video, Skinner can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe.”
The advocate, Lanita Brooks, called the video very upsetting.
Had it been widely viewed by the public prior to a public rally for Skinner on Sunday, Brooks said, “it would not have been a peaceful march.”
Wilmington officials have said that officers were in the northeast portion of the city on June 24 when they saw Skinner leave a house and point a gun toward a crowd of people. A foot chase ensued, they said. It ended with Skinner shot in the buttocks, police said.
Harry Daniels, an attorney retained by Skinner’s family who watched body camera footage from the shooting, said Skinner was running from a dog, and never turned to face officers before police fired three or four shots.
A woman who witnessed the shooting previously told Spotlight Delaware she saw Skinner running with his hands raised as officers chased him. She said that she did not see anything in his hands.
Demands for a release of the body cam
About 50 people had attended the Sunday rally at Rodney Square that featured a series of speakers condemning the police shooting of Skinner.
Several also criticized local elected officials for not speaking publicly about the incident. During one moment of the rally, one speaker turned to police officers watching from their vehicles and led demonstrators in a chant of “Officer, bring us the shooter.”
The rally marked the latest in weeks of outcry from community members, local activists, and city council members who have called on authorities to release more information about the killing of Skinner.
At the center of the demands are calls for authorities to release body camera footage from the officer who shot and killed Skinner, and to publicly name that officer.
The scrutiny of Wilmington police echoes public responses to past controversial police shootings in the city and in New Castle County, including the 2015 killing of Jeremy McDole, who was shot while in a wheelchair, and the 2021 killing of Lymond Moses.
A spokesman for the Delaware Department of Justice, which is investigating the shooting, said on Monday his office is “on track for an expedited release” of the body camera footage.
“We are doing everything in our power to expedite the release of body-worn camera footage without compromising the investigation,” the spokesman Mat Marshall said.
Experts present data, framework for police reform
Darby had scheduled the Monday meeting of the City Council’s intergovernmental committee in response to the shooting of Skinner.
During the meeting, national civil rights consultant Carlton Mayers proposed a framework for auditing the Wilmington Police Department that he said would give residents who live in high-crime and historically over-policed neighborhoods a voice in the formation of police practices, such as stops, use of force, and surveillance.
The method would use anonymous, real-time polling taken from community listening sessions, followed by an auditor’s review of police policies, training, supervision, and hiring practices. Mayers said he has employed that framework in assessments of police in Nashville and Milwaukee.
Following Mayers’ presentation, another national policing expert addressed the council.
Samuel Sinyangwe, founder of Police Scorecard, shared data his organization collects that he said showed Wilmington police shooting people at higher rates than comparable cities, while also arresting Black residents for low-level offenses at roughly three times the rate of white residents.
He also said the data shows Wilmington residents spend more on policing per capita than 99% of those in similarly sized cities, while also facing more fines and forfeitures. The city also pays out more in misconduct settlements than comparable cities, he said.
The city’s budget for 2027 allocated more than $71 million dollars to the police department, a 4.6% increase from last year.
City council members present at the meeting included Darby, Coby Owens, Christian Willauer, Latisha Bracy, and Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo. Wilmington Police Chief Wilfredo Campos also attended virtually.
Darby said Carney administration officials declined to attend the meeting.
Also present at the meeting was Skinner’s family, including his father, Durrell Dollard; his mother, Rashai Skinner; and his sister, Aniyah Clark.
