Joel Burgess

jburgess@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE - The city's top spot for serious crime also happens to include its poshest real estate - the half-square-mile where thousands of well-heeled tourists drink craft beer and eat at high-end restaurants.

Downtown saw more acts of violence and other serious crimes in 2016 than in the city's four other crime hot spots combined. That's according to Police Chief Tammy Hooper, who earlier this year presented elected city officials with preliminary statistics from her department.

Police categorize serious crimes as those ranging from larceny to murder, or "Part I" crimes, and the chief told the City Council downtown was "far and away, no-contest, hands-down" the main place those happened.

Hooper is asking for an additional $1 million annually to fund 24-hour police coverage of a downtown unit.

"We in the police department are staffed for a population of 87,000. And any given day with the number of visitors we can have up to 165,000 people," she said.

Council members denied that request last year but did not shut the door on a new allocation of property tax or other money this year. Some say hotels, not residents, should foot the bill.

The chief's request comes shortly after a survey by a downtown advocacy group that showed respondents weren't enthusiastic about more money for police.

Assaults up, property crimes down

In her Jan. 24 presentation to council, the chief showed "heat" maps for locations of all serious crimes and then broke those numbers into two other heat maps, one for violent crimes and one for property crimes.

Downtown was the hot spot in all areas with 351 total serious crimes — 57 violent and 294 property.

All four other hot spots for violent crime, ranging from aggravated assaults to homicides, were in government-subsidized apartment complexes. The highest after downtown was Deaverview Apartments in West Asheville with 20 violent incidents, followed by Hillcrest Apartments near Montford with 18, Pisgah View Apartments in West Asheville with 17 and Aston Park Tower on South French Broad Avenue with 12.

For property crime, the Riverbend Marketplace shopping center, home to the Walmart Supercenter, was second to downtown with 52 incidents. After that were two subsidized housing complexes, Pisgah View with 50 and Hillcrest with 49. The Asheville Mall was the fourth property crime hotspot with 40 incidents.

Overall city crime increased 1 percent from 2015, driven by more aggravated assaults, the chief said.

There was a 33 percent increase in domestic aggravated assaults that she attributed largely to better reporting by victims. Non-domestic aggravated assaults were up 22 percent, with a significant increase in gun crimes.

Cameras installed in Deaverview Apartments to deter crime

The average number of annual assaults in Asheville from 2011-15 was 254, according to State Bureau of Investigation statistics.

The 3,175 property crimes in 2016 were down from the prior year, the chief said. SBI numbers showed there were 4,379 property crimes in 2015.

The chief said she expected final crime numbers in March.

Breaking down the numbers

Mayor Esther Manheimer said the preliminary crime numbers made sense.

"Look where the activity is in Asheville — it is happening downtown. I think that is somewhat intuitive."

It's not clear if the statistics followed the downtown borders used by the city's planning and urban design department. Planners usually align downtown with an area zoned "Central Business District" that stretches from Interstate 240 in the north to parts of Asheland Avenue and the South Slope in the south. The western edge stops before the Bowen Bridge and goes all the way to the entrance of the Beaucatcher Tunnel in the east.

One of the nine murders in 2016 happened next to the Central Business District when real estate agent Christina Kessinger was found in a dumpster in a business parking lot just north of I-240.

The other murders occurred farther away from downtown.

Downtown resident Larry Holt said he supports additional police and said the city center's population increases dramatically during the day, on weekends and during "special events."

The "preferred time for graffiti and other property crimes" seems to be 2:30-7:30 a.m., said Holt, who is also the chair of the city's Citizen Police Advisory Committee.

Having police who get to know residents, business owners, workers and others can be a game-changer, he said.

"This familiarity with this community serves the area very well while they are on duty."

Council support?

The downtown unit now has 15 regular officers plus two sergeants. When the unit is not on, downtown still has some coverage from officers assigned to a larger overlapping district. But they are fewer in number.

"A little over" $1 million would be needed the first year to train and equip 15 additional officers for downtown, Hooper said.

It would take 18 months after funding to get officers trained and on the street, the chief said. After that, the yearly reoccurring cost would be $1 million.

"That would give us the opportunity to have a 24-7 presence," she said. "And increasing presence in the South Slope and River Arts District, which I think will bring even more crime coming forward."

The city has 146 sworn officer positions, she said. The city is now spending almost $26 million on police — nearly a quarter of its $110 million general fund, which comes primarily from property taxes, followed by sales taxes.

It's not clear whether the council will support the budget request for the fiscal year starting July 1. None of the seven elected officials ruled out the idea, though all said they needed more information.

The strongest support came from Councilman Gordon Smith, who is not seeking re-election this November and who said "tentatively, yes." about the $1 million request.

Manheimer and Councilman Keith Young said they needed to look at all police expenses and the rest of the city's multi-million-dollar budget.

Young said that meant also looking at "what, if any, measures are taken for tax relief."

The mayor noted there would be additional expenses for property owners following voters approval last fall of $74 million in bond borrowing. "So going into this year, I think we need to be very careful."

She and Councilwoman Julie Mayfield said they want to learn if police could be added over multiple years or if other resources could be shifted.

"I would also be interested in exploring other strategies that might help bring down the crime rate, but we would need to know much more about the activity," said Mayfield, who sits on the council's public safety committee. That includes where and when crime is occurring, she said.

The committee is set to review the request Feb. 27.

The biggest skeptic of additional funding was Councilman Cecil Bothwell, who chairs the public safety committee. Bothwell said he had questions about how police respond to calls.

"My subjective view is that there are frequent instances where too many officers are dispatched to low-level incidents," Bothwell said.

Hotels pay police?

Two council members, Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler and Brian Haynes, said the hotels should be a possible source of revenue.

After sales tax, hotels pay a 6 percent room tax that generates roughly $16 million annually. The budget isn't controlled by the city, but instead by the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority that uses the money for tourism marketing and projects meant to boost hotel business.

"I would like to hear from our tourism industry about how this is affecting their guests and how the industry might help with the situation," Wisler said.

Haynes, the other public safety committee member, said the chief's presentation pointed to strains from a large population that doesn't live downtown. He said the TDA should start providing a "large portion" of the room tax for city services.

Hotel tax revenue for fiscal year 2016 settles at $16.2M

"Contributing these funds to meet Chief Hooper's request should see a reduction in crime, making us an even more desirable place to visit."

TDA Executive Director Stephanie Brown said that she believed that tourists weren't contributing to the crime and that the large majority of those involved were residents of Asheville or the county.

"My understanding is that only about 15 percent of victims are not Buncombe residents – and of those, most are commuters," Brown said. "I think the last time I heard, only a couple percent of offenders were from outside of Buncombe County."

Police spokesman Wally Welch said Tuesday afternoon that he was working to check the figures.

Survey: Parking over police

The police request came a week after survey results that showed business owners and residents of downtown as well as others interested in the city center had little interest in more law enforcement funding.

The survey was done in December by the main advocacy group for downtown business owners and residents, the Asheville Downtown Association. It showed that of 743 respondents, 70 percent thought safety was "very important." But when asked to rank where additional resources should be used, police came in eighth place out of nine items. The top item for spending should be parking, respondents said.

The association's executive director, Meghan Rogers, said it was important to note that the survey was done before the preliminary crime statistics were released, though she said she wasn't sure it would have changed the minds of respondents. Rogers said it was difficult to know what influenced their choices.

"I still think it's relevant that safety rose to the top of the list when asked about the importance to downtown's vitality," the association director said.

What's next?

The City Council's three-member public safety committee is scheduled to discuss the police request at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 27 in the 4th floor training room of the Municipal Building at 100 Court Plaza. The meeting is open to the public.

Asheville crime: 2016 (Preliminary data)

City crime up 1 percent from 2015

Property crime down slightly

Aggravated assaults up. (Domestic up 33 percent, others up 22 percent)

Violent crimes

Downtown: 57 (12 percent of all city crime)

Deaverview Apartments: 20 (4.2 percent)

Hillcrest Apartments: 18 (3.8 percent)

Pisgah View Apartments: 17 (3.6 percent)

Aston Park Tower: 12 (2.5 percent)

Property crimes

Downtown: 294 (9.2 percent)

Riverbend Marketplace with Walmart Supercenter: 52 (1.6 percent)

Pisgah View Apartments: 50 (1.6 percent)

Hillcrest Apartments: 49 (1.5 percent)

Asheville Mall: 40 (1.3 percent)

All serious crimes (violent and property)

Downtown: 351 (9.6 percent)

Hillcrest Apartments: 67 (1.8 percent)

Pisgah View Apartments: 67 (1.8 percent)

Riverbend Marketplace with Walmart Supercenter: 58 (1.6 percent)

Deaverview Apartments: 48 (1.3 percent)