After giving a detailed report on the current status of the Asheville Police Department, followed by fielding a barrage of often-tough questions, Mike Lamb, the city’s interim police chief — along with his two captains — were treated to a sustained and enthusiastic standing-ovation by members and guests of the Asheville-based Council of Independent Business Owners on Feb. 2 at UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center. 

Assisting Lamb in presenting the report and answering questions — for about an hour — were Detective Division Captain Joe Silberman and Patrol Division Captain Sean Aardema. An estimated 100 people attended the early-morning breakfast meeting hosted by the pro-business group.

So how did the APD’s interim chief feel after the extremely rare, fired-up standing ovation from the CIBO “issues” forum attendees?

“It was good to feel the affirmation from the CIBO group,” Lamb told the Daily Planet, with a broad smile, during a brief interview immediately after the meeting.

In the absence of CIBO President Buzzy Cannady, John Carroll, CIBO’s past president, served as the meeting’s moderator and introduced Lamb, noting, among many details, that the APD’s interim police chief “likes fly fishing and hiking.”

Lamb then greeted the CIBO audience and introduced his two captains — Silberman and Aardema. He noted that he would be calling on them to provide aspects of his report on the APD.

When the interim chief then called on Silberman to address current staffing levels at the APD, the captain asked, rhetorically, if anyone at the meeting or “anywhere” was not familiar with the staffing shortage that the APD has suffered in recent years. 

Specifically, Silberman said the APD is budgeted for “230 spots for sworn officers” — and, “right now, we’re at our highest (staffing level) in three years, but the department has only 173 “filled seats.” The captain added that, “unfortunately, a ‘filled seat’ is not a police officer driving around in a car.” He said the available APD workforce always has trainees, “folks on medical leave,” as well as those on vacation.

Further, Silberman noted, “This job (as an APD officer) ‘creates’ medical injuries — just getting in and out of police cars with all the equipment” that officers must wear nowadays can be damaging to one’s body.

“When you cut all that down, that leaves us with 146 able-bodied people. That puts us at 38 percent down, which is outstanding... We’ve been 42 percent down” — at the worst in recent years.” Also, he said, “We’ve gotten better at how we use our staffing.”

Further, Silberman said, “In the last three years, lookiing into the future, it was terrible. We had 500 applications… from that I would expect to get five good people... When you eliminated mental health issues… Then, do we pay enough? That was a big problem. We still are not where we need to be (with compensation) to attract people (APD police officer prospects) to this area....

“To get where we are, that’s outstanding. That’s from having robust programs that other departments don’t have. We have our drone program. We have a host of other programs. I’d argue that we have one of the better programs in the state. We’ve been building up our retirement (benefits) — that’s big, if you want to get ‘seasoned’ police officers.”

Silberman added that being a “detective is a much harder job — it takes years” to become good at that job.

In his unit, he noted, “Right now, we have 85 able-bodied officers on the road — and 21 detectives....”

At that point, Lamb, the interim police chief, interjected, “So hiring ‘laterals’ is the quickest way we can fill slots. We can (re-)train them and, within two to three months,” they can hit the streets as fully functioning members of the APD. (“Laterals” are those who have worked for other police departments.) 

Lamb then noted, “From 2015 to 2022, we hired two (only) laterals... Recently, we have hired a number of laterals. We also are getting officers coming back to the APD....”

With a smile, Lamb then gazed at the CIBO audience and said, “If you have any friends who you think would be a good fit for the APD, please encourage them” to contact the APD.

Next, Lamb said, “So, in looking at the crime stats from last year to this year — there are lots of good things on the horizon... From 2022 to 2023, violent crime decreased by 18 percent and property crime dropped by 13 percent... 2022 was a record year for violent crime, mainly due to aggravated assaults....”

He added, “Hopefully, into the future, we will continue to drop crime. It (the current decline) is largely due to the increase police presence... We worry about staff burnout... Hopefully, as as we gradually increase presence, it will get better.”

Lamb then called on Aardema, the captain of the APD Patrol Division, who began by noting that recent “special operations” by his unit have dealt with “domestic violence, violent crime downtown late at night — specific to a few bars... and quality of life...

 “If I saw a five or 10 percent reduction — it is a really big lift. Some (APD officers) came in on their day off” just to help with the special operaton.”

Without directly naming the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners as the culprits, Aardema nonetheless asserted, “I’ve heard it (the APD’s special operations) called ‘draconian’ and ‘evil” by local critics. “That’s a gross misrepresentation of what really happened...

“Not everybody arrested goes to jail. Most of the people we encountered doing these things are in some level of crisis and are self-medicating and they’re suffering from some level of drugs....”

Aardema told the CIBO assemblage, “Nobody here — probably — has been to jail... Our jail actually has a terrific medical system... What jail does is break the cycle. We had people come to town for treatment, it didn’t work out and they ended up on the street. And once on the street, they would never make that decision (to break their cycle of dependency) on their own.”

The captain also said the APD in its special operations  “encountered 16 people recently — and 15 were cited and released -— and (only) one went to jail because he had fentanyl on him.”

At that point, meeting attendee H.K. Edgerton, who bills himself as a Southern heritage activist, asked about the legality of making a citizen’s arrest for a misdemeanor crime.

In response, Silberman replied that making “a citizen’s arrest for a misdemeanor crime is basically kidnapping, so I wouldn’t recommend it,” prompting some chuckles from the CIBO crowd.

Lamb then stated, “We’re hoping, any time we make an arrest, that we’re taking them (those causing the most problems in downtown Asheville) off a cycle of addiction” and other such problems.

Aardema, captain of the patrol division, added, “When I took over the division, I sat down with (then-) Deputy Chief Lamb and Capt. Silberman — and we are fortunate at the APD to have two crime analysts. So we worked as a team to work from a position of depth. I have spent the lion’s share of my career in the patrol division, but I spent some time in the detective division. A detective must be highly intelligent and pro-active....”

What the team found, Aardema said, is that “it was a relatively small number of people (in downtown Asheville) committing a large number of crimes,” which is what the special operations effort addressed.

The Patrol Division captain then added, “Our patrol officers don’t have the time to spend hours and hours of time working on big cases... We’re averaging between 15 and 18 patrol officers on duty” at any time. “Twenty years ago, it was maybe 20 to 25” officers on duty — at any time — for the APD.

Further, Aardema asserted, “One thing we (at the APD) really want is to re-staff the downtown area. That is definitely a goal for us. The other goal is reducing traffic safety fatalities — we’re on track to exceed last year, which was a record.”