Van Duncan, who has served as Buncombe County’s sheriff for more than 12 years and is not seeking re-election in November, spoke about the county’s law enforcement challenges in a presentation at the May 4 meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners at UNC Asheville’s Sherill Center.

“I want to move this kind of rapidly” in his address to CIBO, Duncan said.

“It has been my honor to serve as your sheriff for the last 12 years. It’s been an honor to see that office grow.

“In unincorporated areas of Buncombe County, we’re down 32.6 percent in murders, auto theft” and similar crimes. 

“You could say, ‘Well, sheriff, a lot of places in North Carolina are down, too.’ But not with our population growth. We’re 260,000-plus people now.”

In contrast, Duncan said, “the city’s (Asheville’s) crime rate is up 7 percent.

“To be honest with you, folks, is we’ve been fighting the war on drugs for years, when we should have been working on the opioid crisis.

“Meth probably drives as much of your crime” as any other factor.

“What attitudes can we adopt on use of recreational” drugs? he asked, rhetorically.

“We’ve taken a pretty lax opinion on marijuana,” Duncan said, adding that he has seen where it has done much damage to those who use it, and that it serves as a gateway to other drugs.

Speaking of illegal recreational drugs in general, he said, “Prevention is the best way to go when fighting that battle.”

He added, “You’ve got to go in, get to know your community....

“We’re supposed to give you professional, accountable and effective law enforcement. That’s going to be the challenge moving forward.

“If you asked me what is the biggest challenge, going forward, it’s a negative narrative toward your law enforcement out there. No offense to my newspaper friends here. We’re the only profession judged by the worst elements in our profession.”