Portland police protest black lives matter defund police
(AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

It sounds bad, but it really isn’t the PD’s fault for refusing to respond to a list of crimes and other calls. Nor is Asheville the only city in the country to do this; not by a long shot. With the current political climate causing officers to leave police forces in droves (according to Greenville’s WYFF4 news, Asheville lost 84 officers since the beginning of 2020) even when there aren’t budget cuts and layoffs, the actual work of policing simply gets stretched too thin.

Due to this “staffing crisis,” the Asheville Police Department will no longer be responding to the following types of calls and crimes:

    • Theft under $1,000 where there is no suspect information (this does not include stolen vehicles or guns)
    • 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

In addition, noise complaints made during normal business hours and after-hours may have a significant delay in response…

I can already feel the “underprivileged” folks benefitting from the lack of policing. Lovely.

 

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104 COMMENTS

  1. The use of the term “underprivileged” gives more weight to other terms like “white privilege.”

  2. My cousin and her family live in Asheville. I got a note from her asking for prayers for one of their officers who was shot while serving a domestic dispute warrant. I’m not surprised by this at all.

    • You send them the article. This is what the majority wants. Well here it is.
      Plenty of job openings and reserve openings for those who know how to do it all better

    • If you need a report, you still call the police and get the report over the phone. The linked article made that clear. This is a nothing story TTAG is misrepresenting. This is Ashville saying they will start handling “report only” calls over the phone, the way larger cities have for years or decades. A more efficient use of police resources to boot. The cops can stop responding in person to help you fill out your insurance paperwork (instead responding to crimes in progress), and a report writer at HQ can more efficiently do that with you over the phone and then email you your police report.

      • Apparently you didn’t get the memo.

        The story is intended to generate tons of fake outrage, in order to titillate the snowflake Conservatives and justify their Q&Anon fantasies of persecution.

        • No outrage here or Q – was just a real question. AND if you’d ever had an incident you would realize the Police Do Not fill out the insurance report, > BUT the Insurance will ask for a copy of the police report. Now in the digital age maybe that’s changed. And may depend on the company.

        • “the Police Do Not fill out the insurance report, > BUT the Insurance will ask for a copy of the police report.“

          So just call up the cop shop on your landline and report the incident of vandalism or whatever and they will fill out a police report that you may purchase a copy of, that’s been the procedure for years.

        • I read through this list and it more or less a pretty rational list for anyone with a disposition towards small / smaller government. It’s a waste of money to dispatch a police officer every time someone (that may or may not be able to count in the first place) suspects that their order is short a McNugget when a report can simply be filed over the phone.

      • Dan – if you’d ever had an incident you would realize the Police Do Not fill out the insurance report, > BUT the Insurance will ask for a copy of the police report. My experience a few years back.

        • You clearly didn’t pick up on my sarcasm. Obviously the police don’t file your insurance claim for you. Or sell insurance. Or deliver milk. The point is, as the article notes (and TTAG refused to note) you’ll still get your police report. APD is just entering the modern age as far as police reports go. Every cop I’ve talked to much prefers this approach (as did I, when my car was broken into and I didn’t need to wait there for hours for a cop to show up). While they may have done it with a positive attitude, I seriously doubt that cop who last drove to your house and wrote you a police report to submit with your insurance claim (for a crime that was certain not to get any follow up or ever be “solved”) thought it was a particularly good use of his time and training.

        • Some years ago my car was broken into and some stuff taken from it. In the process the thieves handled a bunch of crap that they did not take, and I did not want or need. It was just junk that had accumulated in the car over the years. Old CD players no longer relevant in the digital age. One of those old tape adapters things you would stick in a tape deck, a device I have not seen in probably 15 or more years. Chargers for devices I no longer have.
          Stuff like that. I wanted the cops to fingerprint this stuff so that A) If the thieves were in the system they could be identified, and B) If they were not in the system but ended up in it later they could be connected to this crime. The cops made every effort not to fingerprint the stuff. Eventually they gave in and took the items, but for all I know they just tossed them in the trash.

          The value of the items the thieves did take was below my deductible so I didn’t even need a report for my insurance.

          Makes me wonder why we have cops at all. Seems like when you need them they can’t be found, don’t want to come, and certainly don’t want to help. When you don’t need them there they are to write you a ticket for some bullshit. Have the departments that are cutting back on services stopped doing traffic enforcement? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

  4. Well if this keeps up there will be no end to skyrocketing sales of firearms and ammo. Funny how the people who in days gone by thought you to be wierd because you own firearms are now seeking your advice. That kind of thinking is one of many reasons I ceased discussing firearms with anyone outside of people who have trigger time, vote, etc.

    • None of the situations listed appears to be appropriate for armed intervention.

      • I just cant believe she left a comment that didnt use the word “democRat”

        She’s evolving

    • You will not believe how many formerly anti gun people I know are coming to me now begging me to help them choose a gun and teach them how to shoot.

      • Worse – I had a very liberal “Anti-Gun” neighbor call to let us know she put our number on speed dial to protect them, because we were closer than the Police. I informed them “Wrong Answer” – Your house is not my castle.

        • Let her know that you’ve taken the advice of groups she supports and now keep your guns and ammunition locked up separately – you’ll be over once you’ve put the phone down, found the key to the gun cabinet, gotten a gun, then locked it back up to be secure, then gotten the key to the ammo cabinet stored in a different part of the house, then…

        • Reminds of the old days when unprepared people would tell survivalists “If anything happens I’ll just come to your house!” and survivalists would respond “You’ll get shot.”

        • 8 that I can name off the top of my head, but there have been more. One of them is my niece who had a bit of trouble with someone and makes the term “a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged” come to life.

  5. They might as well just defund the Police except for traffic enforcement and let the rest of us sort it out.

    • Did you actually read the list? Most of them involved “no suspect” or “victim did not want to press charges”. What is the point in wasting tax money sending a squad car for a report that can be taken over the phone?

      • “What is the point in wasting tax money sending a squad car for a report that can be taken over the phone?”

        Having the cop show up makes me feel safer.

        And that someone “is doing something”.

        Just common sense.

        • That cop taking the time to come to your house could actually be involved in solving real crimes, if your ego didn’t need stroking before you have a hissy fit.

        • Plus It’s My Tax money & Sam’s that pay their salary, so it’s not a waste. + would be nice for them to confirm the report in the case of damage. Otherwise Miner -how many scams would be wasting their time over the phone with false reports. Speaking of ego’s and hissy fits – miner is pretty good at it. And Sarcasm Dan -I really don’t care what “He” feels is good use of his training- Because filling out that report is part of it – and yes- good police work solves many a small crime in neighborhoods. It starts adding to the perps record every time they get caught.

    • DeFacto – if they’d left the camera’s operational,they wouldn’t need the police even there. You get a ticket in the mail per the car owner. Sure worked in Germany. Then Police could actually work on crime, instead of quota’s like some towns were caught at.

    • maybe it’s time to put red and blue lights on our cars…and pick-up a fake badge?

  6. Well obviously, this is a big victory for those that want continued unrest and Chaos. This will of course, very predictively have the opposite results, as it contrary to the broken window theory of policing. More criminals will view this as an invitation come come to Ashville to commit crimes.

    As crime increases, the next step will be to issues citations in lieu of arresting suspects and finally a catch and release policy for more serious offenses. This will not be fun to live through for the residents. Of course, women, the poor and the elderly will suffer the most from all this new crime.

    For a look at the end-game, take a gander at Mexico, where the towns had to form their own militias to fight both the corrupt police, who refused to enforce the law and the prosecutors and mayors, who were on the cartel’s payrolls. These militias were so effective that the government had to federalize them, arm them and tolerate them. Not sure if they disbanded them, but I’m sure that was the government’s goals as they are tools of the cartels for the most part.

    So can the same thing happen here, just substitute the government arming, financing and protecting the new “People’s Police” composed of “Volunteers” from BLM, ANTFA, etc. These will be deployed in poor areas and in hostile zones of resistance (ie your neighborhood)., except for the wealthy areas of the elites, as they will have private security for themselves.

    We need to take back the police from the liberals, their lawyers, liberal judges, police chiefs, social justice advocates and crush criminal organizations and enterprises without mercy. No more kicking in doors for a suspected illegal poker game or Red Flag tips, so they can kill your dog and terrorize your family. Focus on the real crime we can see with our eyes and actually dig into the bigger crimes committed with pens and computers as well.

    The choice is before us.

    • “big victory”

      How so?

      Do you really need armed response to show up when you discover someone busted out the wing window on your car?

      Do you feel the need to have armed police officers come to your home so you can tell them about someone calling you on the phone and asking you if your refrigerator is running, then telling you you better catch it?

      The fear is strong in this one…

      • So let me get this straight: your gripe with having a police officer take a report of a committed crime is that they do it while armed? If the officer let his pistol back at the station to handle these sorts of calls, would you be okay with it then?

        I think you may have misidentified the fearful one in this conversation.

        • The gripe is that the report can be taken quicker and at a lower cost over the phone.

      • Yeah, but I noticed a major point missing, that they would not respond to reports of a dead lowlife, particularly in a hotbed area of lowlifes. So that residents who can locate some ammo could simply clean up the streets a bit without worrying that cops may only go after the good guys.

      • The fear actually isn’t that strong in the article. The article was clear the police are just getting more efficient by accomplishing all the same things with fewer resources – something we should want all government departments to do. TTAG chose to turn it into a story it isn’t by misleading.

    • “These militias were so effective that the government had to federalize them, arm them and tolerate them.”

      In the cases I’ve read about, the government federalized the local militias on threat of jail time — and then, because the militias failed to get proper federal permission for future activities, disarmed them and jailed the local leaders. The only reason the militias were effective was because they were outside the corrupt federal system.

    • This “defunding the local PD” is so the feds can save us with federal police. Federales, coming to your town. Do you now feel safer?

    • UH…you forgot a step…..LIME You’re welcome. Keep 1000lbs on the farm for poachers…er, agricultural purposes. Casually explaining why you’re picking it up at the MFA gets around to the local poachers in the area, helping minimize having to use. Oh, shut up, you know I’m just kidding. But, as I recall, haven’t had any poachers on WiFi cams since the purchase. 🙂 🙂 🙂

  8. I hope that America enjoys the policing that it currently deserves right now.

    The nation voted poorly, and elections have consequences. One of those consequences being when the radical left takes over and demonizes law enforcement. I hope that all of the Biden supporters enjoy living in escape from New York type surroundings.

    You watch. Actually even put money on this…… The federal government is going to come in really soon and federalize all police departments. They figure if it’s good enough for the UK, Uganda, Mexico and China, it will be good enough for the good old US of A.

    All of these Federal consent decrees that Chicago, Los Angeles, and a host of other cities are under? Right. Make that shit permanent.

    • American policing has been a war by the government upon the American people for decades. Rolling back the abuses of the government is a good thing. No longer wasting tax money sending a squad car to take a report that can be done over the phone is a good thing.

  9. Defunding, cancelling, harassing, labeling, etc… this is not how you end up with better police.
    All you’ll have left are angry power-trippers with axes to grind.

  10. Underprivileged benefiting from no police? People void of ethics and who are morally bankrupt may benefit but people who use a cardboard fan for summertime air conditioning and have to go next door to use the phone are not going to benefit. Just knowing they have the police to call is all the security some people have/had.
    Underprivileged-Priviledged. Words generally used to pit one group against another.

    • But these folks can call police if they’re being attacked or if someone is breaking into their home or if their spouse is beating them, none of that has changed.

      Do you really need an armed police officer to come and hold your hand because someone dented your car in the Walmart parking lot and left?

      Do you think it is a good use of an armed officer’s time to come to your home so you can tell him about someone using your credit card to make a fraudulent purchase at target?

      Is it just that you want someone to be forced to show up so you can whine to them about your sad life of misfortune? What a snowflake…

      • Miner49er. She was talking cardboard fans and your talking credit cards.
        I swear, if someone told you Lake Tahoe was deep youd stand on the shore and tell them ,” Not here.”

        • No, I would not take some random dude’s word regarding the depth of the lake before I entered.

          I prefer facts and actual credible evidence before I make a decision.

          And the fact is, TTAG completely misled folks about these changes with the Asheville PD, in order to intentionally stoke fear and dissension.

          I don’t care if you’re using a cardboard fan or a servant with a 6 foot feather, you don’t need a squad car to take a report about somebody using your credit card to fraudulently buy some cheap Chinese plastic at Walmart, it is a waste of my tax payer dollars.

          I do understand that some conservative snowflakes may need a uniformed, armed agent of the government to come and hold their hand and stroke their fevered brow because someone called them on the phone and called them an asshole.

  11. Well if ya live in a blue state, you should be used to this nonsense by now, Democrats have been knocking the teeth out of the laws for several years now.
    This should make the ambulance chasers very happy now that people will be taking the thugs & criminals on by themselves…

    • You really should read the article.

      So just how should the “people take on the thugs and criminals” when some unknown person makes a fraudulent charge on your credit card?

        • possum : Make it so it doesn’t hurt as much when you snort it? Why hasn’t anyone told me about this before? You have made my life better yet again. I am going to stop making sure that possums are indeed dead because of your good deeds:-)

      • No problem, you call the credit card company and refuse the charge. I’ve done it several times, worst that happens is they cancel your card and issue a new one. Was that easy or what? That would also be my answer if Joe Blow stole my credit card from me and managed to survive. I’d need to call the police if the body fell on my property, somebody needs to take out the trash.

  12. Police lives DO NOT MATTER-in Virginia the BLM Gov. after a few riots of BLM and before more Riots that would take place. Issued a change of Law. Assaulting a Police Officer, Fighter or EMT would no loner be a felony. He reduced it to a simple misdemeanor. This is the standard Modus Operendi of this GOV.
    What a shame Police cannot give them what they want and do not respond at all from them. And certainly under no circumstances attempt to arrest a black criminal. Black on Black Crime is out of control. Let them continue.

    • Really?

      Do you have a citation that reveals how the governor can change a wall without the participation of the state legislature?

      Or are you just talking out your ass again?

        • You’ve never heard of The Great Wall of Virginia?
          It was built to keep the Mongols out. Its did a fine job too, I hope the govenor doesn’t change it to much.
          I’m pretty sure me and Miner49er are talking about the same wall.

    • Why should it be more of a crime to assault a government employee than it is to assaults’ a citizen? Murdering a citizen and murdering a government employee should be the exact same crime with the exact same penalty. It is time the snowflake cops were put back on their leashes. It is time we quit pampering these overpaid government employees.

  13. “Simple assaults that are reported after they have occurred.”

    Do LEOs respond if the simple assaults are reported prior to occuring???? Just pondering how that works….

  14. Ashville is very, very liberal, hippish, artsy, so no surprise it’s limiting calls because Police are moving elsewhere, but to publish the calls not being responded to is kinda nuts. Better for dispatch to just tell 911 callers directly than advertise in the paper IMO.
    Some good shopping there, just wish they would get more flights for their airport. More options for locals instead of Atlanta, Charlette, or GSP.

    • Yes it is. I’ve lived an hour from Asheville for most of the last 25 years. Some of it is very granola, but there’s a huge contingent of rich libs also, most spiraling out from the Biltmore estate area. Buncombe County itself is a giant blue turd in the middle of the glorious sea of red that is the Southern Appalachians, easily spotted on the recent map showing 2A sanctuary counties in the U.S. as the lone communist stronghold in the region.

  15. Excellent !

    If there is a law/regulation/ordinance behind any of those events the police will not respond to, those should be repealed immediately. This is a good start toward ending criminal activity: no laws, no crime. Once life is crime-free, we can all just get along in a never-ending “summer of love”.

    Oh, if you are harmed because there are no laws, well, it is just the price you pay for living in a free country.

    “Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.”

    • We do need a drastic repeal of criminal statutes. Life in the USA has become over criminalized.

      • “Life in the USA has become over criminalized.”

        True dat !

        The vast majority of law does nothing to prevent; it is designed simply for punishmen….acknowledging the basic evil nature of humans.

  16. In other words emergency services will not be responding to non emergency calls. Walk, run or drive your ass in and file a report. Get intro a crash? Exchange information, and file the report…. there is ZERO need to have people run lights and sirens to do paperwork for you.

    911 is for emergencies. None of those are emergencies. No one is entitled to having a person with a gun make an emergency response to fill out a report form for you.

    • Hmm…I ain’t calling the po-leece. They did an exceedingly poor job last year & the year before. Stocking up on lime. Got shovels.

      • I got rocky soil, that won’t work. Maybe a smaller caliber, perhaps FMJ ammo, plan on the problem removing itself from my location?

      • So explain to me how shovels and lime will help you when you come out from Walmart and find someone has dented your car and left a note on the windshield that says “I’m only writing this note because someone is watching me and they think I’m writing down my name and address. I’m not.”?

    • Do you call 911 when you see stuff fall off of a truck all over the freeway? That may not need an officer with a gun, but someone has to get out there and run interference, so someone else can clear it to prevent accidents.

      • what has the presence of a gun have to do with anything?….just part part the uniform…

    • “In other words emergency services will not be responding to non emergency calls.“

      Oh the horror! It’s obviously a Marxist takeover of the police force!

      Remain calm, all these incidents are being reported directly to the authorities via Bill Gates microchip that was implanted under your epidermidis just a few weeks ago. Ciao!

  17. Good. This is the way all departments should do it. No need to waste taxpayer dollars for what can be simple calls and emails. I don’t need to pay for an officer to come and hold your hand.

    • My SO had a web site with a simplified report form for the citizens to complete their own report. A supervisor would sign off on them, no matter how poorly written, incomplete, etc., and occasionally sent a Deputy to further investigate depending on the allegation.

  18. Fake outrage. There is no good reason for an LEO to take 45-60 minutes out of his day to take a report that can be accomplished in 4 minutes over the telephone. Just like there is no reason for them to respond to a fender-bender where nobody is hurt and both vehicles are derivable.

  19. How are we going to keep the Martians out of the strawberries now?
    Calling the cops worked because the Martians would leave. I dont know why, it’s not the gunm, because I’ve threatened them with mine a bunch, even shot it . It’s not the uniform because I’ve dressed up like a cop and shined flashlights around, didn’t work.
    Maybe it’s the way a cop smells? Guess I’ll get some chicken shit and smear it on my pants. That ought to scare them. Smell just like David Chipman from the AFT.

  22. Good god… I used to live one county over from Asheville. But I left more than a decade ago. It sounds like my home has gone complete to hell over the past decade.

    • pretty hairy airport…kind of odd to be looking up at guys plowing their fields when landing…

  23. Miner said:
    “…if your ego didn’t need stroking before you have a hissy fit.”
    Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

    OOPS, I se my white privilege is showing…oh wait, that’s right, I’m really happy to be white…

    Miner also said:
    “Do you really need armed response to show up when you discover someone busted out the wing window on your car?”

    YES, armed response is appropriate.
    The truth is that I always provide my own armed response, and no fear needed, since I usually have the upper hand…
    You Miner, would peek out the window while trembling in fear and having that hissy fit you seem so fond of.

    Miner said:
    “Is it just that you want someone to be forced to show up so you can whine to them about your sad life of misfortune? What a snowflake…”

    Quit bragging already, we know how you are.

    I gotta admit Miner, you are a veritable font of typically wonderful liberal newspeak. So many great verbal memes cropping up in your posts. One if the many reasons I love TTAG….

    • when I get an alarm I sometimes tell an officer to wait on the porch while I check it out…

  24. So, police are saying they won’t respond to “Trespassing where the property owner does not want to press charges”?
    This new policy simply means that instead of asking for police to give a warning, now property owners will press charges against every neighbor who steps onto their grass. This will cause a huge increase in police workload, will fill up the jails, fill up the courts, waste taxpayer money on police overtime and court costs, and give people a criminal record for no good reason. I don’t see this as beneficial to anyone!

    Not to mention pressing charges against every salesman, 7th-Day Adventist missionary, Jehova’s Witnesses missionary, or pair of Mormon missionaries who comes to their door, doesn’t see the “no soliciting sign”, and asks if they’ve been “saved” or have heard the “one-and-only true Gospel of Jesus Christ, as revealed to our prophet Joseph Smith in the Book of Mormon.” Sure, we Mormons can be annoying sometimes, but this new police policy will make homeowners press charges against us!

    • I leave the snow shovel out by the curb…if they want to get to me they have to earn it…and sometimes they do…may as well get something positive out of the exchange….

  26. The real news is the loss of officers is far in excess of normal attrition. It is this loss of uniforms that leads to curtailed services for the public.

    If that trend continues, the police will start cutting more and more responses causing civilians to police it themselves and NOT REPORT it.

  27. It’s a pretty weird coincidence that none of the minor incidents listed seems to have anything to do with scary-looking BLM marchers (probably in Chicago!!). If I didn’t know better, I’d think TTAG was trying to encourage emotional click throughs to a non-issue article.

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