Ryley OberAsheville Citizen Times
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect clarification on data from the Asheville Police Department.
ASHEVILLE - Asheville Police Chief Mike Lamb presented data in a City Council subcommittee July 23, showing that although overall crime has dropped in Asheville so far this year compared to the same time last year, violent crime has slightly increased.
With five months left in 2024, the number of homicides within Asheville may be on pace to overcome total homicides in 2023. The shooting death of 31-year-old Denzel McKnight on July 26 was the seventh homicide in the city this year – just two less than all of 2023.
But the city is still seeing a drop in violent crime after a “historic spike” in 2022, Lamb told the Environment and Safety Committee. That year, 12 homicides were recorded. Through the first half of 2022, 397 violent crimes were reported, according to police data.
In the first half of 2024, 331 violent crimes have been recorded, up nearly 4% from 319 crimes the first half of 2023, Lamb said. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program considers four offenses as violent: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
“This is despite the impressive efforts of our patrol officers who have increased crime prevention efforts,” Lamb said. “Crime prevention is vehicle patrols showing more presence, foot patrols and also bicycle patrols in areas that the data is showing we have increases in violent crime.”
The increase in violent crimes this year began in April with higher-than-average aggravated assaults, APD spokesperson Samantha Booth told the Citizen Times July 29. She noted that there have been several shootings and homicides recently, but those only account for 12 incidents and the increase in violent crime overall is primarily due to aggravated assaults.
Are police patrolling where crime is highest?
Police have spent over 300 more hours on crime prevention measures so far this year. The Citizen Times asked APD where in Asheville these hours have been focused.
"City-wide efforts have been made by using a data-driven approach; we continuously assess and identify specific areas in each district, providing targeted recommendations for crime prevention efforts," Booth told the Citizen Times July 29.
"A concentrated effort has been made downtown, in East Asheville along Tunnel and (South) Tunnel, and in West Asheville along Haywood Road and south."
A recent Citizen Times investigation showed that despite three of Asheville's public housing units having a higher rate of violent crime than downtown, police spent over nine times the amount of crime prevention hours in Asheville's city center than in all of public housing combined during 2023. A total of 1,600 crime prevention hours were spent downtown, compared to 173 in public housing.
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Comparing the second quarter of 2024 to the same period in 2023, there were 28 more violent crimes this year in all of Asheville. Downtown is the only area that has seen a drop, having one less violent crime than the second quarter of 2023. Lamb attributed this in part to APD’s joint initiative with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office to patrol downtown on Friday and Saturday nights.
All other locations — West, South and North/East Asheville — saw an increase in violent crime. North/East Asheville had the largest increase with 13 more violent crimes in April through June than those months in 2023.
Vice Mayor Sandra Kilgore noted that in downtown, where police presence has increased, violent crime has dropped. She asked if crime in other areas would likely decrease if APD was at full staffing levels and could “deploy more police in places where there are crimes.”
“Presence does have an impact on crime,” Lamb said in response to Kilgore, mentioning the mass police resignations in 2021 followed by a crime spike in 2022.
A look at crime in 2023: Asheville crime falls after record highs; police give numbers for violent, property crimes
In reference to crime downtown, Lamb has credited the increased police presence when crime both spiked then dropped in the past year. When downtownsaw a spike in both violent and property crimesduring the Downtown Safety Initiative, Lamb attributed this to more officers being in the area and spotting crime as it was occurring. How can police presence contribute to both spikes in crime and decreased crime? Lamb previously said it’s about context and timing.
“If you increase police presence in an area that had less police presence, especially in a crime hotspot, there’s going to be reports and arrests made; but then with consistent police presence over time, that levels off because it sets expectations on behavior within a certain geographic area,” Lamb told the Citizen Times in October.
Lamb said in the July subcommittee meeting that APD’s Gun Crime Initiative is trying to tackle issues of gun crime by targeting people that communities are reporting as shooters and who data shows are committing repeated gun crimes.
They are working with federal, state and local partners to “go after the folks doing these shootings,” as well as local violence reduction workers like the SPARC Foundation and My Daddy Taught Me That “to hold the community accountable,” Lamb said.
The chief also mentioned recruitment efforts have been strong, with “a lot more people in the queue to be hired.”
Property crime continues to drop
Though year-to-date violent crime in 2024 is down from a record high in 2022, the last three years have tracked higher than numbers in 2019 through 2021. Property crime on the other hand, has trended downward in recent years aside from a “slight increase” in 2022, Lamb said.
Citywide property crimes dropped this year compared to last, according to police data. The greatest improvements in property crimes were in downtown and East Asheville, Lamb said. From April through June, downtown had 89 fewer property crimes and North/East Asheville had 52 fewer than those months in 2023.
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Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at rober@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober
