Uvalde, the deadliest school shooting in a decade, underscored persistent questions about school safety, stricter gun laws and ways to “harden” schools to help keep students and staff safe. In Asheville and Buncombe County, those topics are on the minds of families, law enforcement and school personnel.
The city of Asheville has contracted a company specializing in crime scene, hoarding and suicide cleanup to clear former homeless encampments.
Security, crime and justice took center stage during a Council of Independent Business Owners breakfast April 1. The Asheville-based trade group’s meeting served as a forum for the three Democratic Buncombe County district attorney candidates: current DA Todd Williams, prosecutor and former Assistant DA Doug Edwards and assistant public defender Courtney Booth. (Attorney Joe Bowman […]
“Whether you’re a private entity or are providing a public service, a 30-35% daily loss of staff is going to have a major impact on operations,” says Asheville Police Chief David Zack. “I think we’d be hard pressed to find another agency who is dealing with as many big challenges as we are.”
The Asheville Police Department has followed through with a number of promises Chief David Zack made in June. But the one demand residents and activists repeatedly called for — that the city divest from the APD and invest resources in Asheville’s Black community — has not been heard, some community members say.
“As a community, we deserve better, and as a community, we can reimagine what public safety looks like.”
Asheville City Schools selects Gene Freeman for superintendent Asheville City Schools announced Dec. 19 that the system had chosen Gene Freeman as its new superintendent. Freeman is currently the superintendent of the Fox Chapel Area School District, located in a suburb of Pittsburgh, and has more than 25 years of experience in education. The Asheville […]
“Rather than being frustrated at seemingly low public buy-in, how can we accommodate the disparity between those who are immediately able to participate in politics and those who are not?”
“Now we have seen release of body-cam footage, strictly illegal under state law absent judicial review. What was the aim? To embarrass current Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper.”
Activists from the local LGBTQ community rallied Dec. 11 in Asheville at the Vance Monument to show support for “victims of police brutality.”
Amid national furor over high profile cases around the country in which unarmed black men were killed by police officers, local activists held a Dec. 7 candelight vigil against “police brutality” at the Vance Monument in downtown Asheville. Local photographer John Penley documented the gathering:
About 200 people gathered in downtown Asheville Nov. 25 in support of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man who was killed by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer earlier this year. Unlike protests in Ferguson and some other cities, the Asheville gathering at Vance Monument was peaceful as attendees held signs with phrases such as “Hold Cops Accountable” and “Where is Justice for Black America.”
Amid a range of escalating controversies, an independent audit, and a restructuring of the department, Asheville Police Chief William Anderson announced Nov. 14 that he will retire.
Asheville City Council voted unanimously Oct. 28 to sell the naming rights of an outdoor public space in the heart of downtown to the North Carolina State Employee’s Credit Union Foundation. Council also considered problems at the Asheville Police Department, heard an update from Duke Energy, and appointed three members to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
After months of debate, Asheville City Council is preparing to decide the fate of who will manage Pack Place on July 22. Council will also consider the Asheville Police Department’s new Strategic Operations Plan.
District Attorney Ron Moore released a 2011 audit of the Asheville Police Department Evidence Room June 19, revealing more details about missing drugs, guns and money that caused a major scandal. In 2012, several media outlets, including Mountain Xpress, filed an unsuccessful joint lawsuit to press Moore and the city of Asheville to release the […]
Carolina Public Press reports: Lee Smith, the Asheville Police Department’s longtime evidence manager who resigned under a cloud of suspicion in early 2011 and last year pleaded guilty to stealing drug evidence, will be sentenced Tuesday, June 17, according to the federal prosecutor’s office in Charlotte. In an interview this week with Carolina Public Press, Buncombe […]
On Wednesday August 21, 2013, Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County schools will be back in session. And the Asheville Police Department is asking for assistance in keeping local children safe as they return to school, producing a video that urges drivers to use caution.
On July 11, Asheville City Council held “a special meeting [and] declared its support for Police Chief William Anderson, announcing that an internal investigation had found no evidence that he had engaged in a cover-up related to a March car crash involving his son, as alleged by Lt. William Wilke,” David Forbes reported. Many readers questioned the efficacy of the city administration’s oversight regarding the police chief’s behavior, and wondered what other details came to light in the closed session that preceded the announcement. (Pictured: Police Chief William Anderson. Photo by Max Cooper)
After he was reported missing on April 29, William Howard Pack remains a missing person and the Asheville Police Department is asking the public for help. (Photo of Pack taken in 2004, courtesy of APD)
