“If the Tourism Development Authority feels strongly enough about taking steps to reduce common street crime and other headline-grabbing crimes, perhaps using a portion of tourism revenue to subsidize the cost of local housing for officers would help.”
APD says drones can be a force multiplier for the department, which is understaffed. However, privacy experts warn that the usage of such technology by the government needs to be proactively curtailed.
Four firefighters compose the team — two primarily reaching out to people who may be unhoused or experiencing a behavioral health issue, and two primarily meeting with downtown business owners to address their needs and concerns.
Sex trafficking doesn’t look like the plot of the 2008 film “Taken” starring Liam Neeson as a father who dramatically rescues his daughter from Albanian gangsters.
Shared concerns about crime and an understaffed Asheville Police Department fostered an unusual alliance in today’s partisan times. An advocacy group called Asheville Coalition for Public Safety formed in October, bringing together community members of all political stripes who are concerned about crime, mental health, drug use and the unhoused population.
Today, Asheville Watchdog continues its series Down Town, with an examination of the impact of a diminished police force especially downtown, where — as The Watchdog reported in Part 1 — merchants and residents have complained of increased break-ins and shoplifting, of human waste and needles in doorways, and of aggressive panhandlers.
Violent and disturbing incidents downtown are leaving workers frustrated and frightened. One business owner at an Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce listening session asked the assembled crowd, “How many people have to get assaulted?”
Tom Tesser was one of several commenters from the Asheville Coalition for Public Safety, a recently formed advocacy group that looks to build support for the APD. Five of the nine speakers on budget matters sought larger salaries for police officers and shared their personal experiences of downtown crime and safety issues.
“We need cameras and more of them.”
Xpress asked activists, law enforcement leaders, government officials and others to weigh in on how local crime and related issues shaped the past year.
Few crimes are more personal than sexual assault. Unfortunately, collecting evidence that may lead to a conviction of an attacker can be traumatic and invasive as well. That’s where trained forensic nurses can make a difference. And now there are more of them in Western North Carolina, due to a new team at Harris Regional […]
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 […]
“Having spent time in El Paso, Texas, I am struck by interesting comparisons to Asheville.”
Asheville Police Chief David Zack suggested that crime rates were beginning to stabilize as APD learns to cope with its staffing deficiencies. Republican Sen. Chuck Edwards, however, said Asheville’s crime and policing issues were more extensive and distressing than the chief had described.
The latest video surveillance products offer cloud-based data management and high-quality video footage that streams directly to a user’s smartphone. While local detectives express enthusiasm about adding the video footage captured by the cameras to their crime-fighting arsenal, they also note the limitations and privacy concerns of the technology.
“It’s a very simple equation. Less $$$s for police and fighting crime = more crime!”
“Apparently, Asheville has earned the dishonorable distinction of placing in the top 10% of most violent cities in the entire country.”
“An officer’s failure to report a partner’s crimes should be a crime itself — to be criminally punished and require permanent forfeiture of an officer’s certification.”
“Low wages, corporate landlords, lack of rent control, high prices, brutal traffic, the fake homeless, street crime and white collar crime have all combined to make Asheville an increasingly undesirable place in which to call home.”
In the summer of 1912, self-proclaimed clairvoyant Mme. Nina Lester arrived in Asheville for a brief stint. By late July she would flee the city with hundreds of dollars worth of stolen jewelry.
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
