Police shortages force cutback of responses to crimes

Asheville Police Department announced Wednesday, June 2, that it is cutting a whole list of services due to staffing shortages. “There’s no quick fix. There’s no magic wand, There’s no magic pill that’s going to change this overnight,” he told ABC 13 news. 84 officers have quit since January.

Officers will not respond to theft calls when under $1,000 worth of property is taken. other response priorities will be made:

• Theft from a vehicle where there is no suspect information
• Minimal damage and/or graffiti to property where there is no suspect information
• Non-life threatening harassing phone calls (does not include incidents that are related to domestic violence and/or stalking)
• Fraud, scams, or identity theft
• Simple assaults that are reported after they have occurred
• Reports that do not require immediate police actions and/or enforcement (information only reports)
• Funeral escorts
• Lost/found property
• Trespassing where the property owner does not want to press charges

Crime has spiked with the absence of patrol police cars due to the shortages.
“Our detective unit right now is completely gassed out with the volume of serious investigations that they have to address. And we will have to triage those. Those officers are having to work extremely long hours,” Asheville Police Chief David Zack told ABC.

Statement by Asheville City Manager Debra Campbell:

“The City of Asheville remains committed to the safety of our community, but by necessity we have to prioritize response to the highest levels of crime at this time, due to staffing shortages at the Asheville Police Department. This was outlined in an announcement by APD on Wednesday that included a list of calls that APD will no longer be responding to, such as trespassing where the property owner does not want to press charges or a theft from a vehicle where there is no suspect information. The APD lobby is also closed to the public at this time.”

“We recognize these are pain points for our community as we work through reimagining public safety for all of Asheville.”

“Let me be clear that I support our police officers and respect the work that they do. I ask our community to do the same. As a community, we are in the process of reimagining what public safety services need to be done directly by the police department. As we work toward reimagining public safety, the goal is to innovate by deploying APD’s resources toward more serious crime and investigation, while assigning lower-level issues to other departments, some of them perhaps to be named or formed with partner agencies.”

“In the meantime, we need to uphold the law, respect the officers on our Asheville Police force, and understand that they have to prioritize response to crime with a reduction in their staff at this time and as we shift responsibilities to other departments and/or agencies.”

Hire an off duty officer
The Department has a solution, although the taxpayers fund police departments Council members that follow their woke agendas in supporting the defund the police department have resulted in a downsizing of dozens of officers

“In order to efficiently respond to requests and manage the employment of off-duty police officers, the Asheville Police Department has partnered with Off Duty Management to provide services related to hiring off-duty officers effective March 15, 2021.

“You may request to hire off-duty police officers through the Off Duty Management web-based service, OfficerTRAK®.