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Violent crime skyrocketing in Asheville, city police say... Property crime down, with APD 40% understaffed
Asheville Daily Planet ^ | April 13, 2023 | Staff Reports

Posted on 04/25/2023 7:14:27 AM PDT by Perseverando

Thursday, 13 April 2023 17:25 Twitter From Staff Reports

Violent crime jumped in Asheville in 2022, with a 17.4 percent increase from the year before that was propelled mainly by aggravated assaults, the Asheville Citizen Times reported on March 29, citing city police statistics.

Specifically, 525 aggravated assault incidents were reported in 2022, compared to 431 cases in 2021 — amounting to a 21.8 percent increase.

The latest Asheville crime statistics were unveiled by city Police Chief David Zack during the city’s March 28 Environment and Safety Committee meeting.

Contacted on April 8 by the Daily Planet for his interpretation and analysis of the violent crime spike in Asheville, local Fraternal Order of Police President Rondell Lance said the statistic was totally predictable, inasmuch as there is “an anti-police environment” that pervades Asheville, which fuels law-breaking. (A story on Lance’s analysis and critique of the latest Asheville crime data appears on Page A7.)

Meanwhile, Zack also told the ESC that property crime in 2022 was down 4.9 percent from the prior year, according to the department’s data. Specifically, the Asheville Police Department reported 4,672 property crime cases in 2022 compared to 4,912 in 2021.

Under his theme of “presence matters,” the police chief told of targeted operations and patrols during the last several months. Some of the aforementioned operations focused on “nuisance crime,” but they coincided with a decrease in aggravated assaults, he said.

“Our presence does matter,” Zack was quoted as saying by the Citizen Times. He added that the APD averaged being about 40 percent understaffed for at least 2022. “When we look back where we had the window break-ins downtown — again, the targeted operations that we had down there — we saw a dramatic reduction in aggravated assaults,” the police chief said, according to the Citizens

(Excerpt) Read more at ashevilledailyplanet.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: asheville; crime; leo; police
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I was in Asheville recently for a couple of days of family vacation. Ran across the "Daily Planet" newspaper which appears to be a conservative publication, and it was free. Imagine that?
1 posted on 04/25/2023 7:14:27 AM PDT by Perseverando
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To: Perseverando

The place is a liberal haven. Lots of problems around the area too. Meth is made like moonshine. We have a friend who lives in the mountains just north of the city and heard all about it.

I guess if you put away the tourist goggles you recognize it.


2 posted on 04/25/2023 7:20:14 AM PDT by Nifty
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To: Perseverando

I visited there a couple of years ago after hearing about how great it is. Drugged out, smelly hippies and wokeism all over the place. I won’t go back.


3 posted on 04/25/2023 7:26:26 AM PDT by KevinB (Word for the day: "kakistocracy" - a society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens)
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To: Nifty

“The place is a liberal haven.”

The place is an Antifa headquarters funded by Soros..


4 posted on 04/25/2023 7:28:26 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: KevinB
I visited there a couple of years ago after hearing about how great it is. Drugged out, smelly hippies and wokeism all over the place. I won’t go back.

Just like Burlington VT and so many other small cities. Believe it or not a once conservative Republican Saratoga Springs NY is going that way too. Totally woke government and daily BLM protests and once crime free it is now becoming crime central.

5 posted on 04/25/2023 7:28:42 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Perseverando
In Asheville, I didn't see any crime or threat of crime. The downtown area looks normal, clean, and free of crime, well behaved people, no threatening behavior etc.

However, a friend who lives there, whose husband is a firefighter, tells me that she and her husband believe the escalation in crime but that it's mainly confined to certain neighborhoods. She told me which, but I don't know anything about them and can't remember the names.

She worries about her husband, who has to respond to calls in those neighborhoods.

But downtown Asheville and most of the neighborhoods look peaceful and crime-free to me.

6 posted on 04/25/2023 7:31:59 AM PDT by Savage Beast (A wise man is a truthful man, and vice versa. That's the difference between a wise man and a fool.)
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To: Perseverando

How much of the property crime drop was because the police were to busy to report it? Will insurance companies accept a theft claim without requiring a police report?


7 posted on 04/25/2023 7:33:50 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Democrats' version of MAGA: Making America the Gulag Archipelago )
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To: Perseverando
“Violent crime jumped in Asheville in 2022, with a 17.4 percent increase from the year before that was propelled mainly by aggravated assaults . . .”

But, but, but . . . DeSantis talks too much about cultural wars.

8 posted on 04/25/2023 7:34:19 AM PDT by jeffersondem
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To: Nifty

Dope related

Probably not College related, but there are a lot of customers over at that college I am going to assume.


9 posted on 04/25/2023 7:34:39 AM PDT by Clutch Martin ("The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." )
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To: Perseverando

Asheville followed the same path as so many other nice places. Wealthy progressives sell their s hole house and buy something for cash. Then the “art gallery” people show up and complain about no bike paths or diversity and the “dirty” industries that support the city. Then all their friends come in saying how much nicer it is than their former city as every scrap of property is scooped up far above previous market rates. Then the carpetbaggers get their spots on city councils and advocacy groups and start complaining their servants can’t afford to live there. Then for the sake of diversity they get unqualified AA hires to run city departments. Then all their friends come for vacations and stay in all the AirBNB houses that use to house the natives. Then the tweakers and hippies come in because the new progressive government refuses to enforce vagrancy laws. Rinse and repeat. It has happened to three cities I worked in the past 20 years. It is sad and the pattern has been identical every time.


10 posted on 04/25/2023 7:34:47 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
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To: Organic Panic

Oh man, did you ever nail it. Wow. Outta the park.


11 posted on 04/25/2023 7:40:19 AM PDT by Obadiah
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To: 1Old Pro

Yep - Boulder CO, Jackson Hole, Sainte Fe —these are the actual s-holes.


12 posted on 04/25/2023 7:42:52 AM PDT by bigbob
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To: KarlInOhio

> How much of the property crime drop was because the police were too busy to report it? <

And sometimes a crime is reclassified into something lower.
Cities have lots of tricks to make the data hop, skip, and jump.


13 posted on 04/25/2023 7:50:03 AM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: Organic Panic

I think you hit the nail on the head, as to what happens in these places.

Another article I read indicated Asheville has become a tourist destination. Rising crime rates definitely are not good for the tourism trade.


14 posted on 04/25/2023 7:50:26 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Organic Panic

You left out Soros and Antifa.


15 posted on 04/25/2023 7:52:31 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Nifty

It’s so sad what has become of Asheville. It was a nice little conservative town before the libs invaded, starting with New Agers in the 80s. Summers are idyllic there and fall is glorious. Winters can be harsh, but beautiful. Views of the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains are lovely.

Originally, it hosted a summer crowd of wealthy planters from the Carolina coastal plains, including the Low Country, looking to escape the malarial heat and humidity there. Then it was a favored summer spot for well-off retirees who wintered in Florida, summered in Asheville/Black Mountain. So it was always a bit touristy in a way. The surrounding settlements still retained their old ways in the latter 80s, including their distinctive music and thick Tarheel accent. I wonder if they still do. I found these people fascinating and fun, and with some good lessons to teach us “modern folk” (pronounced “mod’ren folk”).

Anyway, it appears the lib invaders have now completely taken over and ruined it.


16 posted on 04/25/2023 7:55:26 AM PDT by CatHerd (Whoever said "All's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
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To: CatHerd

“Anyway, it appears the lib invaders have now completely taken over and ruined it.”

Worse. Soros funded anarchists ... Antifa


17 posted on 04/25/2023 7:58:50 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Organic Panic

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Asheville’s reparation plan. Who’s going to move to Ashville knowing that they are going to have to take part in their reparations program either to pay the increased taxes or be on the receiving end.


18 posted on 04/25/2023 8:01:20 AM PDT by ladyjane
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To: Organic Panic

Actually, Asheville was never home to dirty industries. It served surrounding settlements as a financial and trade hub, and also hosted well-off retirees who summered there and wintered in Florida. The air was gloriously clear there even in the 1980s.

Otherwise, you are correct about how it all went down, only it started with the New Agers (and soon enough the Wiccans, who were quite in vogue during the 80s), especially in nearby Black Mountain, which has always been a spiritual center starting with the Cherokee, who considered the area sacred, then home to a number of church camps and retreat centers of a wide number of denominations. The New Agers moved in from Up North and opened their own retreat centers and “healing crystal” shops and the Wiccans opened book shops.

What really put Asheville/Black Mountain on the progressive map was a Rainbow Gathering there. And it all went as you say from there.


19 posted on 04/25/2023 8:14:27 AM PDT by CatHerd (Whoever said "All's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
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To: TexasGator

Perhaps, but the downward slide started way long before antifa was ever conceived. See my previous posts on this thread. The groundwork was already laid decades ago.


20 posted on 04/25/2023 8:16:17 AM PDT by CatHerd (Whoever said "All's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
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