It is my opinion that the City Council should start to show some support for the AVL police who are serving our community while being stretched to the maximum. A verbal show of support by each individual Council person on all forms of media as well as a physical show of support by each member as suggested by Sen. Chuck Edwards, including their wearing of T-shirts and publicly recognizing each member of the department with a verbal thanks and applause at every meeting [“Zack and Edwards Offer Contrasting Views of Crime, Policing,” Aug. 25, Xpress].
Considering it was this Council who reacted so quickly to cut their budget in the aftermath of the demonstrations in town, it is the least you could do now! How about directing the public to where everyone can purchase T-shirts to show their support as well in and around town?
Again, you as a Council contributed to this problem of low morale on the force and their mass departures. How about taking action to remedy it? I look forward to reading about your solutions in action to counteract the senator’s recent assessment. I hope I’m not disappointed in all of you yet again.
— Janice Doyle
Asheville
That’s not support, it’s obeisance.
If you want the city’s elected leaders to bend the knee to people who are employed by the city then you are proposing a very different form of government. Yet again, “support” is seen in terms of having everyone comply with the wishes of the police — or really, of authoritarians like our colonial governor Chuck Edwards — right up to the mayor. Who gets to say whether and when the police are being adequately supported? The police? On what criteria do they get to say “we’re being supported now”? It’s absurd. But thanks for saying the quiet part out loud. Who knew that cops needed participation trophies? Who knew that it was all about… t-shirts?
(The FY2022 budget increased police salaries.)
I’m fine with a bunch of cops showing up for a standing ovation if firefighters get the invite for the next one, garbage collectors the one after that, then parks and rec and every other group of people employed by the city. Heck, I’ll show up and applaud the garbage crews.
Not a fair comparison.
When a thug with a knife or a gun shows up in their yard, nobody calls a fireman, a garbage collector, or a parks and rec attendant, they call a cop.
And how often does that happen? We already have the actual data on why people call 911 to the cops involved:
https://mountainx.com/news/from-avl-watchdog-asheville-police-calls-roadmap-for-defunding/
Less than 1% of all calls. People call the cops to come and deal with loud noises or a “suspicious person in the neighborhood”, and you know which neighborhoods those calls are coming from. So it’s an entirely fair comparison and scaremongering doesn’t change the data.
The majority of legitimate first-responder situations in Asheville have firefighters and paramedics on scene well before the cops show up. You know that and we all know that, because we see it.
If everyone would just support and respect everyone who currently lives and works here (ahead of those who merely visit or squat), that would be a great start to solving most of our troubles.