Activists dominated the May 23 public hearing on Asheville’s proposed 2017-18 fiscal year budget. The group $1 Million for the People opposes Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper’s request for $1 million in additional funding to hire 15 new officers for a new downtown policing unit.
“In addition to pushing to lower APD’s racial disparity in police stops, Dee Williams on City Council will bring sanity to local politics and make racial and economic justice some of her top priorities.”
If you want to attend Asheville City Council’s May 9 meeting, arrive early. Between a response from the Police Department to a recent report on racial disparities in policing to the first presentation of the city manager’s proposed budget for the 2017-18 Fiscal Year, there’s a lot on the agenda that could be of interest to a variety of city residents and advocates.
Data reported to the State Bureau of Investigation by the Asheville Police Department reveal significant racial disparities in traffic stops, an attorney for the Southern Coalition of Social Justice told Asheville City Council on April 24. And even though the data are disturbing, they may not tell the full story: An analysis revealed an apparent failure to report data for 58 percent of audited traffic stops, despite a state law requires police departments to provide demographic data for all stops.
Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper presented a review of the department’s activities during 2016 at City Council’s Jan. 24 meeting. Aggravated assault and gun crime rose sharply from 2015, while property crime was down slightly.
City Council voted unanimously to deny the zoning request for a 185-room hotel at 192 Haywood St. at its Jan. 24 meeting. Police Chief Tammy Hooper gave an update on policing in the city in 2016.
Buncombe County, like many places across the country, is in the throes of an opioid epidemic, many local sources say. Despite law enforcement efforts and increased awareness of overprescribing, the last few years have seen a dramatic rise in opioid-related overdoses and deaths. Between 2005 and 2014, the county had 110 homicides, according to the […]
A proposed Asheville Police Department policy hashed out with substantial citizen input could mark a change in the way officers handle volatile situations, proponents say. If the policy is adopted as expected, officers will have to explain how they approached the situation and what they did to try to calm things down before resorting to […]
No charges will be filed against Asheville Police Department Sgt. Tyler Radford for shooting and killing local man Jai Lateef Solveig (Jerry) Williams. Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams says an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation has revealed that Radford acted lawfully and justifiably in self defense.
In protest of President-elect Donald Trump, an Asheville resident burned a flag in front of downtown Asheville’s federal building on Thursday, Nov. 1. Shell said his family made the flag eight years ago to celebrate the election of Barack Obama.
“Why does the Asheville Citizen-Times write a story about Mumpower every time he gets five people at a “press conference” and says he is going to find a lawyer and sue?”
The most pivotal law enforcement figure in Asheville is relative newcomer Tammy Hooper, chief of the city’s police department. Xpress recently sat down with Hooper for an extended interview about her role as leader, the state of the department and police-community relations.
Mayor Esther Manheimer delivered her State of Asheville speech on Tuesday, Oct. 4. It stressed the need for the city to foster equity before ultimately advocating for approval of $74 million in bond referendums to achieve equity goals.
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“If I could say one thing about Jerry that people need to know — he had a giving heart, he had a giving soul,” says special friend Ervinia Petty. “He wasn’t a saint, but he was an angel.”
The task of establishing and/or re-establishing trust between vulnerable communities — especially people of color — and the Asheville Police Department will be a challenging one. And especially in the wake of controversial police use of force over the summer, there is vocal criticism of the department. But the way Chief Tammy Hooper sees it, the APD must rise to that challenge.
“I joined the circle because parents of color have to worry about their kids encountering the wrong officer in a way my parents never did.”
While July was marked by a series of protests, rallies and demands for changes to the APD’s approach to policing in the city’s marginalized communities — especially its 11 public housing neighborhoods — August saw a shift in tone, with the outline of a collaborative process arising out of discussions among the APD, City Council and a wide range of community groups convened by the Racial Justice Coalition.
” I would say the repeated, almost daily, killing of unarmed and nonviolent black men, boys, women and girls is absolutely heartbreaking, soul-destroying and completely depressing.”
Buncombe County’s new Family Justice Center will be a one-stop resource for victims of abuse. However, the Asheville area hasn’t always been as intentional about helping victims escape abuse.
By Frank Taylor, Carolina Public Press This story is from Carolina Public Press, a nonprofit online news service focused on in-depth and investigative reporting in Western North Carolina. ASHEVILLE – Contrary to several previous news media reports, Jai Lateef “Jerry” Williams had faced charges of serious criminal activity prior to July 2 when an Asheville Police Officer shot him, […]
