Asheville City Council pay raise for police officers good start, but need more
Asheville’s City Council on June 11 showed an increased commitment to the Asheville Police Department, voting for a 6% pay increase for officers. The raise will boost Asheville’s lowest-paid police salary to $50,309 annually.
This might be a good political talking point for city leaders, but it doesn’t come close to fixing the damage done over the past four years.
Looking at year-to-date crime statistics compiled by the Asheville Police Department, we see a contrast between the city and nationwide trends. As of June 8, there were 188 aggravated assaults recorded, three more than the previous period last year and the same number of homicides. Rapes are outpacing last year, at 22 versus 14.
Compare that to national data released by the FBI earlier this month — murders decreased 26%, and reported rapes decreased nearly 26% from January to March of this year. Asheville city leadership cannot expect a different outcome without making fundamental changes to the way things are done, especially as it relates to a strong and sustainable law enforcement presence.
There was a deeply troubling incident recently that shows the confluence between two of the core issues facing Asheville and its citizens — homelessness and violent crime. On June 19, a homeless man stabbed a tourist who refused to give him money with a hypodermic syringe. In a community so heavily dependent on out-of-state tourism, what message does this horrifying crime send to those considering a trip to the area?
Asheville city leaders should look at the case study closest to us — Greenville, South Carolina. According to the police department of this city with a similar population and demographics as Asheville, the average Greenville law enforcement salary is $64,000. And the violent crime rate was nearly 40% lower in Greenville than in Asheville last year.
A safe and welcoming Asheville is critically important for our community and for Western North Carolina’s economy. We have seen the devastating effects that defunding and understaffing local law enforcement can and will have on many aspects of our economy and on our quality of life. This includes skyrocketing crime numbers, the closure of long-standing businesses, increased insurance costs, insurance policies cancelled or not renewed, significant drops in tourism and worst of all, the loss of human life.
This has resulted in a drop in tax revenue for the city of Asheville, which puts it in the even more difficult position of making hard decisions like the one City Council faced this week.
The Asheville Police Department has been on a long road back since the mass personnel exodus of 2020-21, when many officers felt that city leadership did not have their backs. New Police Chief Michael Lamb has done a good job of hiring and stanching the bleeding of officers to other jurisdictions. While Asheville City Council’s raise for police officers is a great first step, I encourage city officials to not stop there.
Again, let’s look to the example of our neighbor to the south. A police sergeant in Greenville at the maximum pay level makes some $3,500 a year more than their Asheville counterpart, even with the 6% pay increase.
Asheville residents and those who come to town to work, shop or eat — who support the local businesses that feed the city’s tax base — need to feel safe and be safe. One of the best ways to do this is to have a visible police presence that deters crime while reassuring city residents, locals and tourists, not just in the downtown district, but across Asheville. The city simply cannot accomplish this without more police officers.
Those taking on the hallowed charge of enforcing the law must also support their families, and there is no shortage of departments looking for new recruits. Asheville needs to make the case that new officers will be properly compensated and supported by their city leadership.
Poor decisions by City Council in the past have placed Asheville in a very tough spot. But the ghosts of those decisions should not deter the city from continuing to look for ways to support and encourage those whom we ask to protect and serve our citizens, and who proudly wear the badge and put their lives on the line for us every day.