Part two of two stories

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the second part of a story for which the first part ran in the March 30 edition of the Daily Planet. The first part was headlined “How to solve violent crime surge? Back law-and-order candidates, official says.” The story was local FOP President Rondell Lance’s response — in an interview with the Daily Planet — to the reported 31 percent surge in violent crimes over the past five years in Asheville.

From Staff Reports

One reason for the reported 31 percent jump in violent crimes over the past five years in Asheville is a weak Buncombe County district attorney/s office, Rondell Lance, local president of the Fraternal Order of Police, told the Daily Planet in a March 27 telephone interview.

“If you’re a criminal (in Asheville), you come in and get a slap on the wrist (from the DA’s office), then you go out and commit a crime again,” Lance said.

“The law enforcement community that I’ve spoken with… I’ve also talked with fire department community, some of judges and other court officials… and (they all agree that) Doug Edwards” is the only candidate for the DA’s job who they feel can make the needed improvements to reverse Asheville’s crime surge and thereby improve public safety.

Regarding the aforementioned sources, Lance added, “They see what chaos is going on in the DA’s office now. (The current Buncombe DA is Todd Williams).

“They say they need someone who can be trusted (as DA) who will do the right thing... Some people have told me they wouldn’t work in (law enforcement in Asheville because of the DA and the way he (Williams) runs his office.”

Regarding criticisms of the Asheville Police Department, Lance addressed two well-publicized cases.

First, regarding the case of an anarchist’s protest in downtown Asheville, Lance said, “Anyone who was down there knows it wasn’t a peaceful protest. They were in the officer’s faces, screaming at the officers and assaulting them (the officers) — and throwing frozen bottles, some of which resulted in bruises and broken noses. 

“Their intentions were to provoke the problem. They (the APD officers) repeatedly told the protesters, ‘Leave or we are going to deploy gas’ — and the protesters wanted to force them to do it. If they (the protesters) would have backed up,” then there would not have been a problem, but “they (the protesters) wouldn’t back up.

“They were there for one reason to cause trouble to cause anarchy,” Lance said.

In a second incident, which Lance called “the jaywalking case,” he said, “One officer chased a subject, who ran away from the officers when they were trying to arrest him. The officer lost his cool. He used excessive force. That officer left the force and was charged. He was caught, charged, found guilty and left being a law officer,” so, Lance said, the system worked.

After a pause, Lance said, “It shouldn’t happen (bad APD officer behavior),” but “not all police are bad.”

He added, “Many officers have quit the APD  — it  has lost 40 percent (since 2020), with people still leaving. It’s supposed to be at 240 officers, but I’d say we’re under 200 officers now. The new (recruitment) classes that have come on —  there’s still people leaving...  The sheriff’s department’s having problems, also.”