We reported to you in the previous newsletter about eight people who spoke at the July 27 Asheville City Council meeting and called for the city to defund the police. Several of them seemed to believe that City Council had previously implied that they supported these demands. Is anyone keeping up with this debate; does anyone know where elected officials stand on this topic today? Raise your hand if you think it’s ludicrous that this debate is even occurring. Stand up if you admit to being puzzled that we cannot predict the likely outcome.
How does the city plan to attract recruits to fill the roughly 80 openings in Asheville’s police force? When asked that question by a local news outlet, Mayor Manheimer responded, “The goal is not to have 85 officer positions down and not refill them. That’s not sustainable, and that’s not going to be the best thing for our community.”
What is the city planning to do to demonstrate support for APD? Ask your city council representatives and your mayor to answer that – I do not think they have an honest answer for you. But shouldn’t we push them to develop a plan? Should we form our own citizens’ committee and come up with a set of recommendations?
What are other ideas for demonstrating support to our law enforcement officers (LEOs)?
- Consider joining the City Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting. Public comment is allowed at these meetings: your opportunity to voice support and demand answers to questions about restoring support and bodies to APD. The committee has scheduled their next meeting for August 24, 3:30 – 5:00 PM.
- Alternatively, review meeting video recordings and meeting minutes to learn more about what is happening in this committee.
- Organize a “Back the Blue” event.
- Encourage elected officials to sign the Heritage Foundation’s Pledge of Support.
- Check out this brief article for more accessible ideas.
Do opportunities exist for improving how the police force maintains order in Asheville? Quite possibly! Do you want to help make that happen? What’s stopping you?
