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Manteo commissioners appear to support the formation of a Community-Police Advisory Board. A previous police advisory board has been inactive for several years.

At the August Manteo Board of Commissioners meeting, town manager James Ayers proposed resurrecting the Community-Police Advisory Board. Ayers said it was a chance to take the community-oriented police department to the next level. In a published manager report he told citizens, “Manteo Police Department needs to hear the voices of the community it serves.”

Commissioner Betty Selby, who had served on the previous Community-Police Advisory Board, said it was a good way to build a relationship between the community and police. Commissioner Eddie Mann, who brings a law enforcement background to the discussion, thought it would be a good way to identify community concerns and address them.

Mann said the advisory board should be an equal partnership between the police and community and its makeup should be diverse. Ayers had already told commissioners that any new boards should be inclusive and represent the town’s diversity of age, race as well as the different neighborhoods.

Ayers is expected to have a formal Community-Police Advisory Board proposal ready for board consideration in September.

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