From Staff Reports

The city’s new safety initiative — including a plan to pay additional Asheville police officers and Buncombe County deputies to patrol crime-stricken downtown Asheville — could work as a temporary solution for the summer, according to local FOP President Rondell Lance.  

In an April 23 phone interview with the Daily Planet, Lance said, “It can work, if they can get the people to work it... Whatever it takes to keep the citizens and visitors safe downtown.”

Continuing, Lance said, “I think the Asheville Police Department, itself, is in a good place and is going to be back to somewhat normal, but it’s g,oing to take a year-and-half to two years — at best — to get back to normal.

“I’m  (very optimistic about the (Asheville) police department right now and their goal to get more police officers there. And I’m optimistic because some on  (city) council see clearly now and are willing to spend money to get some officers.

”He reiterated, “Whatever it takes to keep it safe downtown for this summer.”

As for the city’s safety initiative, Lance, a retired police officer who leads an FOP lodge numbering 250-plus area law enforcement officials, said the following:

“To me, it’s a short-term fix for this summer. I’m hoping by next year, it’ll be like it used to be."

"So how would Lance, right now, gauge the safety of downtown Asheville for citizens and visitors?

Lance began answering the question that he, personally, has not been downtown as a visitor in a long time — and none of his local close associates have been frequenting the central business district lately, either, “but I have seen — and read—  the news” of the recent spike in violent crimes there.

“I do know they are short-staffed — and that it’s way off from what it used to be downtown” in patrols by officers.

Further, he told the Daily Planet, “Once again, the ones to blame are (Asheville) City Council, talking ‘Defund the Police’” and espousing other highly negative rhetoric about the APD, which “caused this problem and now they are trying to fix it.

”However, just as guilty for the current spike (in both violent and property crimes) downtown, Lance said, is “the DA’s (district attorney’s) office dropping charges left and right against the police.”

He called the DA’s permissive stance a morale-killer for the APD. (The Buncombe DA is Todd Williams.)

Further, Lance asserted, “I think it was the city manager and county manager that put this thing together. I’m not even sure” council had any input in the plan’s genesis. 

Veering off topic, he said he was at a recent community meeting, during whch a council member whom he declined to name, attempted to reassure those in attendance that “they (council) were all together” on the key issues, which, unexpectedly — at least for that councilwoman — triggered widespread laughter from the skeptical crowd. (Asheville’s council is all-female.) 

Noting that he is speaking based on information that “I’ve been told by the officers on the APD and sheriff’s department,” he said, “Number one, the deputies who work downtown, it’s on their day-off. It’s for $75/hour. to work downtown (extra on Friday and Saturday nights).”What’s more, Lance said, “They (the police officers and deputies) say they don’t know where the money’s coming from, for sure...

“For the APD, you get paid time-and-a half for working downtown on Friday and Saturday nights. I’m sure they’d match the county (at $75/hour). Im not sure of their (exact) hours. The biggest issues we had (when Lance worked for the APD) was between 9 p.m. and when the bars closed. People would come out intoxicated — and that’s when we (the APD) had most of the issues.“

Also, between 8 and 11 p.m., people are walking to events, with vagrants” approaching or attacking them, Lance recalled of the busiest times for the police in downtown Asheville.

“My understanding, there’s supposed to be four deputies and four APD working together downtown every Friday and Saturday night,” under the safety initiative plan.They’re not really pulling people out of the city or county… It’s all voluntary, secondary work... My sources said they’ve been having a hard time finding people (in the APD) willing to work downtown for extra pay,” Lance told the Daily Planet.

For downtown patrols, “they (top city police leaders) want you (as a Friday or Saturday night patrolman) to walk (or ride a bicycle) and to be seen,” then would be typically the case with other police assignments.

The APD’s intent to have high visibility on weekend nights is to cause potential perpetrators to be more reticent about attacking or robbing the citizens and visitors, Lance said.“With few applicants (for the weekend patrol openngs),” the plan might not work, he added. 

As for the city officers, in particular, Lance said, “I think they’re so tired and don’t want to work more... If they pull four to work downtown (from the APD) they can do it for the short-term. But it means fewer officers in other districts every weekend.

“It all boils down to not enough people to work in the police department.“And that’s who’s working  at the APD now (a generation with a different work ethic) — it’s on their day off.”Lance reiterated, “What I hear,” the extra police staffing “is just on weekends. Fridays and Saturday nights downtown, when the biggest crowd is there.

“It’s a whole new generation now — and they’d rather be off, then work downtown. Also, I’ve heard some officer don’t want to work downtown.”As of the April 23 interview, Lance said of the safety initiative announced by the city to begin May 1,

“The sheriff’s office has already been putting people down there. I saw (Buncombe) Sheriff (Quentin) Miller (working) down there one night — and others (deputies).”However, Lance also said “I heard from one deputy that said (recently) he didn’t see any APD people working it (the downtown weekend patrol)....”

“I think the main drive you get from this story is that the APD is so short on its manning level, they’re not able to properly work downtown. They can’t have that full, continuous coverage, without hurting some other part of the city.

“So it’s incumbent upon City Council to get more officers there to work. There needs to be clear collaboration and cooperation between the city and county to make this work,” Lance said in concluding the Daily Planet interview.