From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The data shows Asheville’s violent crime dropped significantly in 2025, with city police recently reporting a roughly 28 percent decrease through early November, compared to the same period in 2024, marking a five-year low driven primarily by fewer aggravated assaults, although property crime saw a slight uptick and juvenile crime remains a concern.

The aforementioned was the report from Asheville’s then-Police Chief Mike Lamb on Nov. 2  during his final Asheville City Council subcommittee meeting before retirement.

“With two months of data to collect left in 2025, citywide violent crime has dropped 28 percent through Nov. 9 compared to the same period in 2024, Lamb told the city’s Public Safety Committee,” the Asheville Citizen Times reported on Dec. 1. 

Asheville Police Department spokesperson Rick Rice added, “The largest driver of the substantial drop is a decrease in aggravated assaults, with 93 fewer reported compared to last year” for a 26 percent reduction, the ACT noted, adding, “Asheville is still seeing a drop in violent crime after a “historic spike” in 2022, when 642 violent crimes were reported across the city by early November. The next two years saw 530 violent crimes in 2023 and 519 in 2024 during that same period.”

To that end, AI Overview noted, “Reports from late 2025 confirm that Asheville had around 371 violent crimes reported by November of that year, marking a significant drop from previous years like 2022, attributed partly to increased police staffing and efforts targeting repeat offenders and drug/gang activity, though youth involvement remained a concern.”

 The ACT noted that “the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program considers four offenses as violent: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.”

In a notable drop in homicides, recent totals include 12 homicides in 2022, nine in 2023 and 13 in 2024. “The stabbing death of 45-year-old Jennifer Rose Gerard on Nov. 20 marked the fifth homicide in the city so far this year,” the ACT stated.

Violent crime fell across each of the city’s three police districts, Rice noted, but there was a slight increase within two areas: East Asheville near the VA Medical Center, and the north end of downtown, near North Lexington Avenue and the surrounding blocks.