From Staff Reports 

WOODFIN — Jacqui Boykin has been named the new chief of the Woodfin Police Department, following former Chief Michael Dykes’ sudden departure from the role in April 2024, the WPD announced on its social media on Feb. 20.

Boykin was named the police chif in January, she announced Feb. 20 on the department's social media. 

Boykin joined the WPD after serving as chief of the Zebulon Police Department in Wake County for the last four years. She launched her law enforcement career with an 18-year stint at the Wilson Police Department.

“Boykin is filling the role once held by Dykes, who quietly left the department on April 19, 2024,” the Ashville Citizen Times previously reported, adding that “five days after the chief's departure, town Mayor Jim McAllister declined to say whether Dykes was fired or resigned, but said it would become public record ‘before long.’" 

Meanwhile, Dykes worked with the WPD for 24 years and was promoted to chief in 2017. 

The ACT reported on Feb. 20 that Dykes had confirmed with the newspaper on that date that “he now works as the captain over operations at UNC Asheville's University Police... When Dykes left the WPD, Kevin Presley, the former police chief of Black Mountain, led the 20-person department in the interim.”

"Unfortunately, I am still unable to talk about my departure from Woodfin," Dykes said via text, the ACT stated.

“Regarding a ‘rumor’ that had spread on social media saying Dykes took passwords to computers and that the town can no longer access some computer programs, (Weaverville Mayor Jim) McAllister said in April: ‘that is nonsense,"’ the newspaper stated.