Latest / APD Pod Squad / Episode 11; Celebrating APD's 150th Anniversary, with Senior Police Officer Tracy Edmonds, Accreditation Mgr Hannah Silberman, Capt Joe Silberman, and Chief Mike Lamb

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Episode 11; Celebrating APD's 150th Anniversary, with Senior Police Officer Tracy Edmonds, Accreditation Mgr Hannah Silberman, Capt Joe Silberman, and Chief Mike Lamb · APD Pod Squad

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_05: This is the APD pot squad.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_05: On this episode, we celebrate 150 years of the Asheville Police Department.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_05: Is it a birthday?
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_05: Is it an anniversary?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_05: We'll ask one of our guests.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_05: And those guests are Senior Police Officer Tracy Edmonds, who we'll be getting to know, accreditation manager and resident historian who is working on a book chronicling the history of the APD all 150 years.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_05: Hannah Stilberman, Captain Joe Stilberman will be here to discuss the new badge that you might have seen on officers around town.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_05: And Chief Mike Lamb.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_05: Keeping with the history theme, he'll be discussing what he has seen in his lengthy and illustrious career.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_05: This is the APD Pod Squad.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_05: This year, the Asheville Police Department celebrates 150 years of continuous service.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_05: And joining us now is our unofficial historian, our official accreditation manager, Hannah Silberman.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks for joining us, Hannah.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_08: Thanks.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_08: Nice to be here.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_05: So this entire episode of the APD Pod Squad is focused on the 150th anniversary of the Asheville Police Department.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_05: First of all, who decided it was going to be an anniversary and not a birthday?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_05: And what might the difference be?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_05: And that's not even something maybe you can answer, and maybe nobody has asked that question, but it always fascinates me the birthday versus the anniversary.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_05: Thoughts?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_08: No, I don't think anyone's asked that question.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_08: I guess it is our birthday in essence, but the the idea, I guess, is we've probably celebrated things before in the past, but at different intervals.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_08: So it's maybe more of an anniversary than it is a strictly a birthday.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_05: Number though, 150, as in 150 years.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, for a lot of people, they hear that and they just think, oh, that's you've been around a long time and whatever.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_05: Let's put put some perspective on it.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_05: The year 1875, because that's what we're talking about.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_05: Only about 10 years past the end of the Civil War was the founding of the Asheville Police Department.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_05: And when you think about it in that way, that was a long time ago.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_05: And a lot went into the forming of the police department and the things that were here prior to that, because there was policing that took place prior to that official act of we're now here, we're here to stay.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_05: So let's talk a little bit about that, the earliest days of the Asheville Police Department.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_05: What do you know as our unofficial historian?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_05: Because you've been doing so much research on this.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_08: Aaron Ross Powell Sure.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_08: So actually, in the in the very early days of Asheville, the town wasn't quite big enough to sustain a police force.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_08: So the Asheville itself didn't really grow until we got a railroad in 1880.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_08: Before that, the town wasn't very big.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_08: They really struggled to pay for salaried employees.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_08: But probably the biggest concern of our residents at that time was safety.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_08: So pretty periodically they would go to the town aldermen and say, hey, we need a police force, and they'd be like, Yes, we 100% agree with you.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_08: And then they would hire a police officer.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_08: And then about two to six months later, they'd be like, Oh man, we can't afford to play these police officers, and they would fire them.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_08: And so 1875 is the first time that they hired and appointed police officers, and then we had a continuous force.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_08: So we had police officers before that date, but we didn't.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_08: Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_05: So the need was there.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_05: It's just the revenue stream, the ability to pay wasn't there.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_08: Trevor Burrus Exactly.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_08: The only paid employee of the town government for a very long time was the town marshal.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_08: But his primary job was to collect taxes because the one person you absolutely had to have was the person who was going around collecting your money.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell Right.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_05: So if so prior to the official Asheville Police Department, it was just the old roundup a posse system.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_08: Trevor Burrus They had officers, like I said, you always had the town marshal.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_08: And then they also periodically would tell citizens that they had to patrol, which was not very popular.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_08: So usually that would flip back to hiring a police force.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_08: But yeah, the the town marshal was our primary enforcer of ordinances, and he could gather people to help him if he needed.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_08: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_05: So you're putting together a book highlighting the history of the APD, which I'm excited to read, and I know you've been working on it for a long time.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_05: It's quite the project.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_05: And every time that we speak, I'm like, uh how much further along are you?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_05: Well, we're getting there.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_05: We're about halfway, we're about and you're missing parts because of just the lack of available history.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_05: So what's the era that you have the most history on?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_08: The real bummer is that as a department, we kept very few records and very little history from our early times.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_08: So really I rely a lot on newspapers because, especially in a small place like Asheville, a lot of details were shared in the local newspapers.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_08: We had multiple newspapers, but all those newspapers were trying to come up with content.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_08: And so they published a lot of information about what was going on, and the best place to get drama was your police department.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_08: So there's lots and lots of information in those papers.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_08: And so I would say the most detailed information and the most fun anecdotes and things about the departments, probably the 19 teens to the 1920s.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_08: After that, it it drops off a little bit in the Great Depression.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_08: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_05: So here's what I know about you know the late 1800s, early 1900s.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_05: A lot more shenanigans, way more gunplay, and plenty of incidents that are actually hard to believe listening to them today.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_05: Do you have any anecdotes that you can share that maybe the Statue of Limitations has run out, we're not going to get sued for telling the story?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_08: Aaron Powell I mean, there's the fun part is you know, we we didn't have a chief when the initial department was formed in 1875.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_08: They answered to that town marshal.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_08: And funny enough, they appointed four police officers in our city charter, two for the day and two in the night.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_08: But they were so cheap they only actually appointed two officers, one for the day and one for the night.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_08: But they answered to the town marshal because you would have to pay a police chief.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_08: So our first police chief didn't come until 1880, and he had been one of those police officers, but his name was Ambrose Featherston, and he ran the t local saloon.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_08: So he was our saloon owner, and he was briefly a brewery owner.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_08: He was actually a brewer, which I think is funny for Athletic.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_05: So first of all, I love the fact that his name was Ambrose Featherstone, which is just very 1800s to begin with, and he was a saloon owner.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_05: So our first chief was saloon owner Ambrose Featherstone.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_05: Sounds made up.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_08: It does.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_08: And um he actually ran the Hampton and Featherston Brewery, uh, which eventually became uh he sold liquors, cigars, wine, and it was on Pac Square.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_08: And another really interesting fact about him is he was an early bail bondsman.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_08: So it's an industry that wasn't didn't happen until the 1880s, but he had the money and he had the ability to hunt down people who ran out on their bail, and he was located centrally on the court.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_08: So he would just go over, he would confront you the money for you to get out of jail, and then he was responsible for hunting you down if you so he one-stop shopping, truly.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_08: But he was our teeth, he was our first chief.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell Slight conflict of interest there.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_08: Aaron Ross Powell So back in the day, we didn't have appointed chiefs.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_08: They were had term limits.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_08: They were appointed every single year until the 19 teens, then it was about every two years.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_08: It wasn't until the 1920s that they didn't have term limits.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_08: So we had lots and lots of chiefs.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_08: So he was only chief for about a year.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell So what was the official uh date in the year 1875?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so a date that we can look forward to this year as the official anniversary date of the Asheville Police Department.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_05: Do we know that?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_08: Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_08: We do.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_08: So it's not really officially a charter, but it is in the city meeting minutes where they appoint that force of officers, and it was November 1st, 1875.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_08: Aaron Powell Okay.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_05: So we got a little time before that actually occurs.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_05: We got some things we can do this year to kind of celebrate.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_05: And I knew we'd we have some things, including this book that you're putting together.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_05: So tell us about the book.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_05: And for people, it's mostly going to be something that's given to current officers, uh like in some previous, I guess, retirees and things of that nature.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_05: It's not one of those things you're going into Barnes and Noble and picking up, right?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_05: So how many pages are we anticipating at this point?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_05: Do we know?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I it's probably an impossible thing to ask because you're only about halfway through it because there's just so much content.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_05: I know a lot of photos are involved.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I've seen some of the work that you've done so far.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_05: Uh it it's more like a textbook, I suppose, like a history textbook.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_05: Is that that's how it'll read?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_08: Aaron Powell I was about to say uh it's more of a textbook than a book.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_08: It's got a lot of pictures, a lot of asides, a lot of neat stories.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_08: It's very involved in the history of Asheville.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_08: And I would say I'm probably doing too much because I'm halfway done and it's 130 pages.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell So how long have you been at it?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_08: About two years.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I don't want to put the pressure on.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_05: Uh but November 1st of 2025 is the uh the official anniversary date.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_05: So you might need to skip a couple of decades, maybe.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_08: I'm hoping the more recent stuff will go a little faster because it's a little easier to a little easier to research, I would imagine.
• 9:20
  unknown: Yeah.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_05: So if you could tell us uh one interesting story that almost nobody knows that they're going to find fascinating, just like you have, you know, as you've done your research and you just kind of said to yourself, wow, this is amazing, didn't know this.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_05: What would that be?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_08: Aaron Powell I mean, the probably the overarching thing was just because Asheville was such a small town.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_08: There's so many different things that overlap with one another that as you're digging up, you're like, oh my gosh, those two things are connected.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_08: So there's just one that really blew my mind.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_08: And uh I don't know, this isn't really a story, but in 1906, there's the Will Harris murders where we lost two police officers to the desperado Will Harris, is what they called him.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_08: But one of the fallen officers was James William Bailey.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_08: As I was digging, we have a much later chief who happened to be not a police officer at that time, but he came back to the department.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_08: And as I was looking, I started noticing that he was married to a lady who had a similar name as James Bailey's wife.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_08: And sure enough, he married the fallen officer's wife and has several more children much later afterwards.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_08: And it's just these weird connections.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's a whole house, isn't it?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_08: Or um yeah, they're they're just all connected to each other.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_08: Our second chief, Herschel Springfield Harkins, who also becomes our sixth chief of police as well, was the uncle of uh our chief of detectives from the 1920s to the 1960s.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_08: You know, they're they're all kind of very related, and you find these different connections throughout the world.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, what was his name again?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_08: Herschel Springfield Harkins.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_05: Herschel Springfield Harkins.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_05: Another great name.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and his um his grandson is named in his honor, Herschel Springfield Harkins.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_08: And he was a state representative for our area in the 1970s for a very long time.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_05: That is a mouthful of Herschel Springfield Harkins.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_08: Yes.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_08: And his son, Thomas Harkins, was a very prominent community member as well.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_08: He was a judge, a prominent Freemason, and founder of the Van Wiekel law firm.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, the same one that our current mayor, Esther Mannheimer, works at today.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_05: So there's another great connection.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and Herschel Her Herschel Harkins was a super interesting person.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_08: Because in between his two terms as chief, he was actually the mayor of Asheville.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_08: And he was the one who installed our streetcar lines, he started the first city schools, he outfitted the fire department with equipment.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_08: Uh he did a lot of really interesting stuff.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_08: Uh but you know, before his time as chief, he was actually a federal revenue agent.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_08: So he went around the western part of the state and collected moonshiners, people who didn't pay their whiskey and alcohol taxes.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_08: So in 1870s, I think 1877, he was actually involved in a really wild shootout at the Henderson County Courthouse.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_08: Uh I have a quote from the uh Asheville Daily Gazette from 18 oh no, it's from 1902 because he was telling them the story.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_08: But they started out as saying, quote, few men live to tell the tale that they have fought single-handed twelve men at one time with four bullets in their bodies and the blood streaming from wounds caused by glance shots.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_08: Yet H.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_08: S.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_08: Harkins of Asheville is one.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_05: You know, that's correct.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_05: Few men have fought off twelve guys with four bullet holes.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_05: One of the things that I've enjoyed is seeing some of the old photos that you have accumulated and that even hang on some of the walls of the Asheville Police Department.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_05: Are there any that stand out for any particular reason?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, um, so again, as a department, we haven't done the best job in keeping all of those records like pictures, but thankfully I will give a lot of credit to our local FOP lodge, the Herald and Lowe Lodge number one.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_08: They donated some pictures that really blew me away that I had only seen in the newspapers that are really wonderful.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_08: There's one from 1913 of officers on horseback for a special event that's really priceless.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_08: They've also been very generous to let us share those digital copies with the Bunkham County Library so that those will be available for others.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_05: We had officers on horseback when I arrived in Asheville in uh '99.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_05: And I I think they went away in the early 2000s, I believe.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, they were expensive.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_08: Um, and they were too expensive back then.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_08: Those horses were borrowed for the special event.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_08: Actually, a funny story is that the city would not buy our police department a horse because it was too expensive.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_08: We had to borrow the fire departments for a long time.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_08: And eventually, when they got a new horse, they gifted us the old horse so we could use it for the patrol wagon.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_05: I can only imagine.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_05: Hey guys, we need to borrow your horse.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_05: Looking forward to hearing more of these great stories over the course of the year as we celebrate our 150th anniversary.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_05: It is the focus of this episode, but it won't be the only episode that we talk about it because I know you've done so much.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_05: And as we get closer, we've actually got a few cool things that are going to occur during the year that we're excited about as well.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_05: So make sure you don't miss a single episode of the APD Pod Squad as we celebrate our 150th anniversary, the Asheville Police Department all year long.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_05: Accreditation manager, Hannah Silberman, thanks for joining us, and we look forward to talking to you again soon.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_05: It's time for our getting to know segment, and today we'll be getting to know Senior Police Officer Tracy Edmonds.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks for joining me, Officer Edmonds.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_05: I'm glad to be here.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_05: Do you know why you were chosen for this particular podcast?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I've been told that I'm the longest standing patrol officer.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell So did you know that?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_05: Were you aware of that?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't aware for sure, but I kind of I've been here a while.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_05: You had to know you were in the running, right?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_05: So you barely nudged out Chad Bridges.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_05: So it was almost Chad sitting in that chair, but you get the honor.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well there we go.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_05: So this is the getting to know segment.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_05: We're going to get to know you a little bit.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_05: One of the first things we always start off with to kind of play off of name rank and serial number, uh, name rank and department, which we kind of already know, but go ahead and share that with us.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Tracy Edmonds, um, with Asheville City Police Department, and I'm a senior patrol officer.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I work in the uh North Asheville, Central uh downtown area.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell So this uh particular episode of the podcast is focused on the 150 years uh officially of the APD as we're celebrating an anniversary this year.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_05: Now clearly you haven't been around for all 150 years, but how many years have you been apart?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh 26 years.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_05: 26 years?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_05: So you're the class of, I guess it was 98, 99?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh 99.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_05: 99.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_05: So the previous century is when you started.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_05: So it's a bit historical, right?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's been a while.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_05: So one of the other questions we always ask as far as the getting to know segment is if someone, of course, is a true local, were they born here, do they move here?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_05: How about you?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_05: Were you born here?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: I was.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I was born in Asheville, but uh we we lived my most of my life as a kid in Weaverville.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell Okay.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_05: So you went to probably North Buncombe, I guess.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: North Buncombe High School.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_05: And stayed here, never moved away?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell Well, I joined the Marine Corps, so I traveled some, but I decided uh once I finished that to go to college.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it was kind of a natural transition from the Marine Corps into law enforcement.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_05: This is probably a no, but uh did you ever play the golf course at Paris Island?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell We didn't play a lot of golf in a Marine Corps.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know there was a golf course.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_05: It's actually really nice.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_05: And you're probably right.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_05: There's probably no time to be playing golf while you're getting trained at Paris Island with the rest of the Marines, but I have played there several times, so that's my only connection to uh I know that Hilton Head is down that way.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's some nice golf courses down there.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yep, sure is Paris Island just outside of Beaufort, uh South Carolina, very nice area.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_05: So you came back from the Marine Corps, and that's when you decided to go into policing?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um I went into, you know, I went and got some college and then decided to go into policing, but I didn't think that I would police the area that I grew up in, you might say.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of looked around a little bit to see where I wanted to start my career and and uh highway patrol was what I started to do initially, but uh after finding out that uh, you know, they do a lot of traffic related type work, I didn't want to narrow myself to just that.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: So a uh lieutenant who worked at the Nashville Police Department, Randy Cogburn at the time, kind of recruited me from uh I was working temporarily while I was in college as security at Mission St.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Joe's health system.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so um he kind of he kept approaching me about it and um asking me to put in, and and finally I I decided I I'd go ahead and put in until I decided what I wanted to do for the rest of my career, you know.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: I maybe I'd start at Asheville.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I did.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell So you've been here about 25 years and things have changed, obviously, since the day you started.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_05: And one of the things is always going to be in almost any profession when you're talking about a quarter century or so is technology.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_05: So how different was it when you started in you know 1999, 2000 to now?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_05: Like what are the big advances?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Well, as far as um we didn't have cell phones, and that's a huge advantage now.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it you can contact anybody at any time, text or just uh phone call.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: And back then we had radios and you had to go to a certain channel and you called on the radio, and when you spoke to the public or you spoke to another officer, when you keyed up, you could talk, but you had to release the button to hear them.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: So when we made calls to the public or to other officers, you know, other officers wasn't so bad because they knew the system, but the public wanted to talk while you were talking and vice versa.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was very confusing.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of times we would have to go to a resource center to a landline and call people if we had to make a phone call.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_05: You think about uh a lot of the the lack of communication that we had in the days following Helene and the hurricane was because of no cell service.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_05: And you go back just 25 years and that type of thing didn't even exist.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_05: And you you see how lost we were, how everybody was, the citizenry and the police department, and everyone's having to scramble using Starlinks and all these different things to try and uh be able to speak with people, but just 25 years ago, that didn't even exist.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: How crazy is that?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: It it's pretty crazy.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you meant you mentioned the storm.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, a lot of folks would walk up to law enforcement asking questions, and we were j in in the black just like they were.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have any kind of service that they didn't have.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of them had simple questions like, I can't flush my commode, you know, I can't get drinking water, this and that.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, uh a lot of them, you know, I said, look, you can get just any kind of water from any stream or lake if you can find it, and you can flush your commodes that way or do some just some simple things to kind of make it a little easier on you.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: But it it was kind of uh it was shocking to me to see how quickly people kind of panicked originally.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you know, our reliance on technology, okay, not just being able to talk to somebody on your phone, but you can't Google it either.
• 20:12
  unknown: Right.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_05: You know, so there's no there was no Wi-Fi, there was no cellular service of any kind, there was no internet.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_05: So I think people have become so reliant on these little things we keep in our pockets and our hands now that it's almost like all those things that we learned that were passed down over the years from generations, from fathers to to sons, it's like it's gone.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus That that's exactly what I was thinking.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just a lot of the uh what I would call some of the common sense things to know how to do, people just i they knew them, they just didn't think about it because they were so dependent on the cell phones and the information aid, you might say.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell Yeah, it's uh it was so reliant on them that we almost we forget things that we know.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_05: We know these things.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_05: It's like I know how to flush a toilet without clean water.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_05: It's just get a bucket from somewhere and you know.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_05: But you know, it it's just like, oh my God, what do I do?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_05: And that's what happened, and that's why it was so frustrating and panicky, I guess, for lack of a better term, in those days following Helene.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_05: For everybody.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_05: You know, one of the questions we always ask for people in this segment is to share with us one thing that most people don't know about you.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_05: It could be a hobby, it could be a passion, it could be anything.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_05: So for you, what would that be?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoy collecting World War I, World War II military rifles from uh I love history, so it kind of scratches the itch, you might say, for wanting to learn about history and how things were uh during the time when those the rifles used by different countries, how their cultural philosophy weighed into what type of weaponry they adopted to fight in a war.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is uh item that's used to basically protect their well life.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you can see the different influences from one country to the other based off the rifles they chose and how they decided to.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: to outfit those rifles to fight during the war.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I enjoy that.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh even though many of these are older rifles, you wouldn't want to fire 'em or uh use 'em because there in many cases there's only so many remaining.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's something I enjoyed.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: It helped me to kind of connect with the past and some of the people that uh took part in, you know, what we were to become here in this country and and around the world.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_05: So do you have like an old school like say Civil War or whatever revolutionary era musket?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_05: Do you have an old musket?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have anything uh before World War I.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of those are black powder and and uh I I just really never had a lot of interest in that.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: The reloading of it and all that is is something you have to be very careful with.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I I I kind of stick to weapons that were your cartridge fired like you had in World War I, you know, your traditional uh rounds that you'd use today.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_05: And can I assume you you probably have an M1 grand I I would guess.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: I have one, yeah.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_05: Now that's one you probably could still fire today, I would guess, right?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, you can still fire that.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um I actually uh purchased that one from the CMP.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was a uh weapon that was in storage uh overseas that had been used in World War II, brought back finally they signed legislation to allow it to come back into country and of course they take them through the civilian marksmanship program and they totally refurbish the weapon, make it firable, and then you can buy it through them through a program there.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how I came to have that one.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell So in your collection what's your prized possession?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the one that you just look at and you're like I have a a 1903 uh World War I rifle.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the first million produced and it it was issued to the Marine Corps, which has some connection connection with me.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And there was there was very few that were made and stamped for use in the Marine Corps and I have one of those and it's it's in immaculate shape.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: I took it for an appraisal and they they said it was the finest World War I rifle that they had ever appraised.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's how grew good a shape it's in and I purchased it from a World War II veteran who his family he had passed away and his family sold it.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: I was aware of the rifle and approached them about purchasing it and uh it was his duty weapon and and I was able to do that.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell So you're probably torn or maybe you're not it's like you know it's valuable.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_05: You know it's very valuable.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_05: Do you keep it and just for that sentimental value in your stories and just or do you sell that and you know No it's valuable in the sense of it was used in the war by our country a servicemen uh thought enough about it to bring it back home.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the value in it, some may put a numeric value on it, but to me I'm just uh basically a steward of it.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'll have it while I'm alive and then uh when when I'm no longer here someone else will get to take care of it.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_05: You got kids, grandkids that appreciate that?
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I do.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have uh kids and grandkids and one in particular enjoys going to gun shows and things like that with me, so he'll probably a lot of the ones I've collected will probably be auctioned off, uh but s the kids want certain ones, you know, maybe and they'll some of them I'll leave within.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: But that particular rifle I've been thinking a lot about maybe donating it to a museum.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the gentleman did the appraisal said that he would do that with that rifle so that it it was preserved in that way versus you know handing it down and taking a chance on something happening with it.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_05: Everybody could always enjoy it forever.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody could enjoy it perpetuate so that's something I've been thinking about too if with my collection.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's not a very large collection but the ones I have are are very unique and nice.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell Senior police officer Tracy Edmonds the longest tenured patrol officer in the Asheville police department class of 99.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_05: So the years under your belt with the Asheville Police Department being what they are you don't have that many years left.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_05: Looking back what's your fondest memory the thing that stands out about your time with the APD?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_05: I know it's kind of a tough one to kind of be put on the spot for right now it may come easy to you it may be something you have to think about.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well there's a lot of incidents I I keep a a written record of all the calls I go on throughout my career.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one of my training officers taught me to do that and I I kind of keep count of them and it's been like eighty six thousand calls and per and actions that I've taken, you know, like maybe a traffic stop or whatever.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a lot of that's a lot of risk through the years.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm and because I've been on patrol my whole career, of course that number's way up there.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um and there's not really any particular incident that stands out.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of terrible things that took place.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because oftentimes we go to people's worst day of their life and we're there to experience it with them.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I try not to think about those things.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: But probably the one thing maybe that I can say about my career that I'm proud of is that I've worked nights for probably 20 years of the 26.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you know being on nights in my personal opinion is is it's a lot more risk there.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: The costs for service are a little different or more critical incidents.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that's to me, I guess of all the things I've been able to accomplish and most people would not consider that an accomplishment but being on nights and a lot of the officers at work there are, you know, uh a lot of high speed officers really want to work and get a lot done.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I've enjoyed that.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: I've been I've enjoyed working with them.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell Well I mean it's an inherently dangerous profession, obviously uh so to just literally have survived that long uh is is an accomplishment of sorts when you think about it.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_05: Well the high risk and the danger act actions that you've you know been a part of.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know for for many years in my career up until just the last two or three, I really never considered the dangers in the profession.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um I prepared I planned on what I would do in certain situations and I tried to stay current on things so I never really worried about being harmed.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I should have been but I didn't.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: But as I've grown older the last few years getting closer to retirement it it's on my mind more.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: But uh as you age you come to the realization that uh you're not the person you was when you started or through the majority of your career so you have to be smarter.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: You have to work smarter.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm aware of that now.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_05: Over your career who is the one person that stands out if you think of one person coworker superior or other in your tenure with the Asheville police department that just stands out for whatever reason who would that person be?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Probably Alan Dunlap.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Alan was a officer here I think he retired he had twenty plus years in and um he was just a very likable person and fun to be around and just being around him you enjoyed your day.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: I worked with him for several years and he was a community resource officer here for many years.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: But he he's been acting supervisors and things through the year but he worked on patrol for quite some time and I got the privilege of working with him.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: And uh a lot of people in a community will recognize that name.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: He was just a person who if you met he would remember your name if you talked to him long enough to tell him you had children and their names, he would remember that stuff and he'd recall it anytime he spoke to you and it gave you a personal feel with him.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: I guess he might be what you would call today an excellent community oriented policing officer, you know so he was probably before that was as big as it is currently now, he did that naturally and I always found that to be fascinating to me that he was uh as good as what he was at what he did.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_05: Well he left an impression on you and I'm sure he left an impression on a lot of others.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah there's been there's been others uh Wade Wood who was the chief here for a short time who I believe is now out at UNC Ashville he was uh one of my original FTOs so okay he helped train me and uh through the years it just seemed like every time I had a question or uh something I needed to have advice on he would be there and he's he's a good person and and and a good role model also.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_05: So senior police officer Tracy Edmonds thanks for joining us today.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_05: And you know good luck in the rest of your time how many years you got left?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a year and 10 months or so not that you're counting.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: Not that I'm counting.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_05: Well we're looking forward to having you for another couple of years on the force.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks for being with us today.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_05: It's good to be with you.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_05: Joining me now is CID Captain Joe Silberman who doesn't just lead our detectives with the Asheville Police Department but was also instrumental in the recreation of a new badge that you are wearing right now that celebrates our 150th anniversary so first of all thank you for joining us.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_07: Thank you for having me.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah we did an anniversary badge last year we started planning we knew we had our 150th coming up and it actually started a little even even before that the way this came in is you wouldn't expect we used to have before the days of email we had a newsletter that got pumped out every month with important announcements in it.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_07: And just digging around in old department files we found the repository of all of them and we got away from it in the early 2000s.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_07: I think like 2003 were the last ones that we ever produced.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_07: And we always wanted to bring it back but with email it there was a question of how to make it relevant.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_07: And threw a bunch of stuff at the wall and what ended up sticking was we were gonna do uh historical pieces and it began with some of our old timers and retirees asking them questions about why we do something today.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_07: And then it steamrolled into us uh just googling around and looking up some old articles uh doing some uh recognizing some of our line of duty deaths and actually looking at the stories behind them and it rolled further and further and Hannah ended up doing a really deep dive into newspapers.com and then that spawned into a deep dive into the records of City Hall and City Hall City Council meetings and then a a deeper dive some of the Masonic lodges opened up their minutes and records to us and we ended up with an absolute ton of stories and the the next logical move was to compile them all that's that's what we really saw and we ended up coming up with let's do a book and she is working on the book it's it's past the halfway point but it's very involved and part of that book project ended up being old pictures so the Asheville Library was a wonderful resource uh I think there's some records from UNCA too and our own internal records so part of that was restoring old pictures both physically and digitally we're trying to fix some of our old photo boards and preserve them for the future but also we have some old pictures damaged by time and we've reached out to some professionals and they're they've been gracious enough to help us restore those old pictures so in the restoration of the old pictures we started looking at well what were the uniforms like and what were the old patches really like and we took screenshots we tried to digitally enhance them to get a better view of these really little images and we looked at some of our old badges.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_07: Officer Keith McCulloch who's retired and come back as a detective for us now actually has a collection of some old badges and our department had an inordinate amount of badges across its 150 years which was kind of unusual.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_07: The current official badge we've had for probably the longest time well over 20 years but we started looking back and there were some really neat old badges and in our early early days there was almost a hodgepodge our first badge I don't think we bought from like a catalog or that was professionally made I think they uh stamped those out of a piece of sheet steel.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_05: Trevor Burrus Yeah I've I've seen some of them they're very simple very simple very basic.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_07: And the old ones they the way they did the pin is they just glued a safety pin on the back.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_07: We have a a few surviving examples.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_07: The first one we saw we thought oh it must have broke but all of our surviving examples have the same hardware.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_07: So initially we know uh we wanted to do a number of things internally and externally for 150 years.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_07: The big thing is we're trying to build culture and pride in this agency we looked at what we could do for staff.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_07: It's pretty common with other agencies to do a one-year anniversary badge and we started looking at them and nobody liked the looks looks of them.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_07: They were very loud.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_07: They had uh a lot of uh color and fanfare going on and we just decided that wasn't us so we said you know what uh retro would be cool let's start looking back and let's reissue an older badge and maybe do some modern a modern take on it and we started going through and discussing what would work and what wouldn't and what we could have made reasonably and we ended up landing on a motorcycle officer's badge from the late 40s early 50s.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell So we had some to choose from what was there any kind of debate or was this just the obvious choice?
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_07: Most definitely there were debates and digital mock-ups and who thought what would look better.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_07: Ultimately we landed on this and everybody really like nobody had any heartache over it and everybody really liked it.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_07: Just the design it's classic and simple and then we started talking about what do we want on it?
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_07: What did it used to have?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_07: And it used to have an unusually large state seal in the middle and so we were able to do that.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_07: It obviously it has to has Asheville police on it and we wanted something for 150th.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_07: So instead of our current badge which says established 1875 we just put 150 years and then on the bottom we were going to go with 1875 but a lot of our old badges used to have badge numbers and our current badges don't have them.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_07: And we have badge no we actually have that number and it stays with you your whole career and to some of us it means a whole lot most of us it means that number means a whole whole lot.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_07: And so we thought hey let's actually get badges with actual badge numbers and that's meant a ton.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_05: I'm joined by Captain Joe Silberman and we are discussing the badge that he is wearing right now that commemorates the 150th anniversary of the APD.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_05: He's been describing it but you can actually see it for yourself on the Asheville Police Department Facebook page as part of the graphic that promotes this particular episode of the APD pod squad.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_05: So all of our officers are wearing this right now and will only wear it for the year 2025 is that correct?
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_07: Only year for the year 2025 and it is theirs then to to mark that here in this year for 150th they were here.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell So they need to put their other badge in a safe place because that's going to get used again next year.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah I'm a little worried about that so was this a surprise to a lot of the officers and how was their reaction to it?
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_07: Aaron Ross Powell That's been overwhelmingly positive having your badge number on it.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_07: Nobody has really uh had any issue with the folly of having a bunch of people wandering around with either their ATM pin code or their garage door code on their chest but I've heard nothing but positive returns.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell Because people use their badge numbers for those purposes like realizing well no one's going to see my number and so they use that number.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell No comment so well if they did they probably shouldn't anymore that's for sure.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_05: So what was the process to have it manufactured that must have been a little difficult as well.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_07: So we got what pictures we could get it was actually super a lot easier than we thought.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_07: We went to our current badge provider with all of the pictures we could find uh good and bad and it was similar to an existing design that was used by firemen but it was very much like a fireman's cross design and we definitely didn't want that.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_07: And they were able to modify it and then they were able to do the state seal in the middle and once they could do that it was really easy.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_07: They did a series of mock-ups there were it drafts went back and forth and ultimately we settled on what we ended up with.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell and can I assume that there's not a safety pin with glue on the back that affixes it to the uniform?
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell No.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_05: A little more secure than that in the day if you're talking 150 y years ago or whatever, you know that's probably what you had to work with.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_07: There wasn't you know and it's all wrapped up in like how prepared we were and how in need we were for a police force at the time it was birthed.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_07: And the slow roll of equipment and that's part of the history project that told us what we needed and when we needed it.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_07: Like there's a story behind everything we have.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_07: So while the badge has its own story there's actually it's one of the least interesting stories.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_07: There's the horrific story of what finally made us issue firearms which wasn't until years and years after we were founded and it was uh the awful tragedy of our first two line of duty deaths was a major influence on it.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_07: But there's also a story on like how we got flashlights.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_07: So remember when we started there were no flashlights didn't exist.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_07: Trevor Burrus Yeah and that in and of itself is an interesting story and everything on their way up to the first tasers in our department.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_05: Trevor Burrus Technology plays a large part in any company or uh governmental agency remaining relevant.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_05: I mean it it moves so fast these days.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_05: Just think of the the advancements in the last couple of years with AI and you go back 10, 15, 20 years, cellular technology.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_05: 150 years ago, I I mean there wasn't much to work with people still on horseback and and things of that nature.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_07: Trevor Burrus Well that and it's funny to see what are the priorities and what is the community really calling for from its police department.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_07: And that's changed grotesquely years and years ago one of the major that we had major issues like people kept on complaining because their lawns were out of control and that was regulated and they wanted the police involved in that regulation.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_07: There's a number of issues that come up for decades we were heavily involved in animal services and that was a major thing we did and I want you to think about it.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_07: That was in the days of horseback.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_07: So obviously traffic control became important and then horses gave way to cars and then speeding was a huge huge problem.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_07: We have a line of duty death from one of our chiefs associated with that and uh there was a huge outcry from the community about speeding and in the days before seat belts horrific accidents.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_05: Well there was vehicles long before there were laws there there was no traffic laws there was no the roads weren't lined roads were it was just kind of willy-nilly complete chaos out there the first I just got to hear the other day the story of the first uh breath alike intoxilizer machine to uh is that what it was called the intoxilizer no it was called the drunchometer the drunchometer and I'm not kidding I love that name we need to bring that back as part of our anniversary so you know they still by the way do manage the uh the height of the lawn.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_05: Those are called HOAs they don't quite have the authority of the Asheville police department but some would say more so oh thank you you want to like you didn't control that lawn.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_07: They were calling for a chain gang holy cow it's changed a lot across the years and it's really important to know that history there are lessons we should have learned that we've had to learn over and over again.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_07: And some of the goal of this book is to look back and let us know like okay so while our issues were different, some things were very, very similar and there are lessons to be learned in that history.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell Well I mean you're always as a police officer dealing with humans and human nature being what it is some things will never change people's attitudes behaviors those are always going to have to be uh dealt with in some way shape or form and regardless of the technology you're still gonna have to deal with people one-on-one you know yes that hasn't changed at all Captain Joe Silberman thanks for joining me we're gonna be hearing a lot more stories about the hundred and fifty years of the Asheville Police Department over the course of twenty twenty five thanks for sitting down and sharing just some of them with us.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you Rick.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_05: Last but certainly not least I am joined now by Asheville Chief of Police Mike Lamb.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_05: Chief welcome back to the APD Pod Squad studio.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you Rick I appreciate it good morning.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_05: Before we go any further I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Ask the Chief that is our segment in which you can ask Chief Mike Lamb a question via email or by leaving a voicemail message.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_05: If you want to do it that way just call 828-250-8800 828-250800.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_05: So he's not going to pick up the phone and answer your questions right then and there but it is open 247 for you to leave a message and ask the chief at 828250800.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_05: If you're more into email you can send one to APD podcastfeedback at ashevillenc.gov I know I said it kind of fast I'll say it slower APD podcastfeedback at ashevillenc.gov ask the chief a question and they'll answer it in an upcoming episode.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, on with the show.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_05: As we continue Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Asheville Police Department, something which we established earlier with Hannah Silberman.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_05: We couldn't decide, as Chief Lamb joins me right now, if it is the 150th anniversary or birthday.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_05: And was there an actual decision made, or did that just kind of happen organically?
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I guess it's either or, isn't it?
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_06: I think it's either or, yeah.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_05: So we're we're calling it an anniversary, the hundred and fiftieth of the Asheville Police Department established officially and continuously since now 1875, and how things have changed.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_05: So let's talk a little bit about that.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_05: Obviously, you were not here in 1875.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_06: No.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_05: However, uh, you have been here a long time.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_05: You were the class of nineteen ninety-eight.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I was hired in February of nineteen ninety-eight, so I went through that spring BLET Academy, which was at on the main campus of A B Tech at the time.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_06: And then I graduated in June and started doing my field training the summer of nineteen ninety-eight.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_05: So as the chief of police, you know what people have said about your particular position over the past, say, ten or fifteen years, that it's usually I hate to use the word temporary for whoever's in that seat, but we've had a lot of chiefs.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: We have to do that.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_05: There's no way to avoid that part of the conversation.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_05: It's just it is what it is.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_05: We've had some short terms, we've had some longer term ones, we've had some from outside agencies, and we've had some from internal, which of course you are.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_05: So who was the chief when you entered the Asheville Police Department?
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_06: The chief that hired me in 1998 was Chief Will Anarino.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_06: And uh Will was a or is an Asheville native.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_06: He was chief for 10 years from 1994 to 2004.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_06: Next month it'll be 27 years that I've been with the Asheville Police Department.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_06: He was the the last internal chief for APD.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_06: So we've had a a series of chiefs post-Anorino that have come from the outside.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_06: So you know, I I feel honored to be the chief at the 150th uh anniversary for uh the year 2025.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_06: And uh, you know, I think it's fitting that it's uh another internal chief that is this chief during that during this special year.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, a little bit of synergy there uh with you know Chief Enorino when you began, and now you uh as you're kind of culminating your career with uh being the chief of police as well.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_05: We've had some in-between, uh many that people will remember, of course.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, just prior to you was Chief David Zach, uh who came from my neck of the woods up near Buffalo, New York, uh from Cheek DeWaga.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_05: That was not where he was born, but uh an adopted Buffalonian in uh go-bills, of course.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_05: And uh and and prior to that, uh there's a few names that I remember.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_05: So fill in the gaps for me.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_05: I remember Chief Hooper.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_05: Who else am I?
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_05: I'm forgetting a whole bunch.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so uh right after Anorino chief uh Bill Hogan w was hired, and uh and Bill's still in the area, also is uh he was a great chief, came in from Rocky Mount, um, North Carolina.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_06: And he was, gosh, he was with the department for I think five years, if I remember correctly.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_06: I feel like each chief that we've had for the last 27 years have brought something important to the Asheville Police Department.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_06: With Hogan, he brought in a real focus on guiding principles and also our mission statement.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and he kind of brought us back to the core of, you know, what is it that that drives us?
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_06: And we still have the same uh guiding principles today with integrity, fairness, professionalism, and respect.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_06: After Hogan was Will Anderson, and uh he was with the department for for a short while, and he brought uh looking at a vehicle uh accident matrix um and um some different different policies that that have helped us.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_06: And then after him was uh Tammy Hooper, and Tammy came from Arlington, Virginia, and or Alexandria, Virginia.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_06: I think it was Alexandria, Virginia.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_06: And she brought in um, you know, we really looked at our policies, a real focus on community policing.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_06: She uh brought in the look at our use of force policy as well, and she brought in some some really good training that increased our officer safety.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_06: She used the community and uh a group called the Vera Institute that brought our community together along with internal stakeholders within the police department, and they sat down and looked at our use of force policy.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_06: So, our use of force policy that we currently have today was developed in cooperation with the community.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_06: And then we got body cams at that time.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_06: And then, of course, Chief Zach came in with the focus on uh being the best trained, the best equipped, the best paid officers within Western North Carolina, because we are the biggest agency west of Charlotte in North Carolina.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_06: So, you know, each each one of them I feel like have contributed building blocks to the great department that the Asheville Police Department is today.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell Has Chief Hooper been the only female chief that we have had, uh or has there been another?
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_06: No, no, Chief Hooper was the uh first female chief that we had.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell So we've had one?
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_05: And we don't know if we'll get another.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sure we will at some point.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_05: History being what it is, we've been around for 150 years.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_05: I imagine we'll be around for 150 more.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_05: But you never know.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you look at this past year, and we never would have imagined something that devastating would happen.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_05: So d nobody really knows.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, the the recent wildfires in California, all these different events worldwide.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_05: Nobody knows their fate in 10, 20, 50, 150 years, but we hope we're here for a whole lot longer.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_05: Let's talk about.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna botch this, uh, this historical.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_05: Those that do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_05: Everyone's sort of version of that.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_05: I'm probably inaccurate with the exact wording of it, but uh, let's talk about what we've learned from the most recent events uh that of course you were achieved for the storm that was Hurricane Helene.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_06: But yeah, you're you're 100% right.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_06: Those that don't know history and can't, you know, can't remember the past and and all the significant events are doomed to repeat it.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_06: And so it's really important for us to look at the gains that we made, the things that we learned, uh the mistakes that we made and be able to grow from those.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_06: And um, you know, I th I think that uh we're in a good place in understanding our history.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_06: And and it history does repeat itself.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_06: Like I remember uh the floods of 2004, whenever I think it was Francis and Ivan and those her those hurricanes came together and Biltmore Village flooded.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_06: I think the worst flooding was uh along the Swann Ono River.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_06: I was part of the SWAT team then, and we were tasked with guarding Biltmore Village from looters during that flood, and it wasn't anywhere near the level of Helene that um that we're we're still recovering from.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_06: But you know, the last big storm that we had in Asheville was the storm of 1916.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_06: And it's interesting, there's a book, it's it's something about I can't remember the exact title of it, it's something The Castle, and it's about the Vanderbilts.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_06: And there's a chapter in that book which talks about how the flood of 1916 impacted Asheville.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_06: And they were just in reading that there are a lot of similarities where there's different stories of I think there were two or three nurses that lost their lives in the flood in 1916.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_06: They were holding on to a tree, they were part of a boarding house that was run by, I think it was a colonel or a captain that ran that boarding house.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_06: And um, one of his daughters was was in the tree.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_06: And before he was swept away, he took his coat off, lashed his daughter to the tree until folks that were able to uh make a boat and then rescue her out of that tree.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_06: So it's interesting to see how the flood, the 1916 flood, was similar to what what we experienced in Helene.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, we had rescues very similar to that.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_05: Of course, our boats are more advanced now, the motors and things.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_05: Back then, 1916, I I don't know where you get a boat at that point, and it's gonna have an oar to it if you do.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_05: So a little tough to fight those swift waters at that point.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah, definitely.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_05: Now, from the photos that I have seen from the flood of 1916, just generally, of course, it was devastating.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_05: It looked like that particular area, which uh a lot of it occurred in the River Arts District, which we know now, it looked like it was more developed and more populated.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and and perhaps that's one of the things they learned after that was gee, maybe we shouldn't have so much development right here along the river.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and then yeah, I remember with the flood of 2004 that we were looking at different floodplains.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_06: This last year, 2024, with Helene, we were able to rescue over a thousand people, or I'm sorry, evacuate over a thousand people because we we had the 500-year floodplain maps that um uh thankfully the the city had, and we were able to determine that 2,800 structures were within that floodplain.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_06: And so with between us, the sheriff's office, the different fire departments, we were able to go and ev and tell people that they needed to evacuate within those 2,800 structures.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_06: I think it's estimated that we evacuated over a thousand people prior to the flood.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_06: So I can't imagine in 1916 what that looked like because there's no Doppler system, there's no satellites, there's no uh prediction of the weather.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_06: So it's interesting all the the way technology is advanced, and I think we continue to to grow and learn every year to make our community safer.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean, obviously weather predictions way back in the day were nowhere near what they are now.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_05: It was probably some old timer saying his rutabag is acting up and his arthritis is kicking in, so we're gonna have a storm.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I don't really know.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_05: Don't need to mock.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_05: But it's just kind of I imagine there was some way they had devices, you know, the barometers or something along, but there was no way they could have had the advanced note as we did, and we didn't have much.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_05: So I mean they could have had almost none.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_05: You know, as far as yeah, we know it's gonna rain.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_05: We can look up and see the clouds, we can look, but how much?
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_05: Well, that's a mystery then and now.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it makes me think of the old mountain saying, uh Lord willing, and if the creek don't rise.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, well, it did.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_05: And over and over and over.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_05: Chief Mike Lamb joins me now as we uh talk about the history really uh in of Asheville as we kind of commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Asheville Police Department.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_05: We've we've mentioned some chiefs that have been here as part of your tenure, and now you are the chief of police.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_05: How about some other people that were instrumental in your particular development from when you joined the force in 1998?
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_05: When you think about those people, what faces, what names come to mind for you?
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_06: One person that helped me get hired with the police department was John Quigley, who was the special agent in charge over the Asheville office of the F FBI.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_06: And uh we went to church together, and John John was just a great guy, and of course, the relationship he had with APD, he gave me a recommendation.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_06: And uh, of course, Will Anorino, Will was the chief then, but he was also one of my instructors at Western Carolina University.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_06: So he taught a community policing class at Western, and so that helped.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_06: At the time, I wanted to be a U.S.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_06: Marshal.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_06: And so after I had that class with Will Anorino, it really helped me look at the Asheville Police Department.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_06: Then I have two uncles, my uncle Emmanuel and Uncle Ruben, who are cops in Austin, and they told me, they were like, Yeah, you can go federal, but if you really want to know what law enforcement is like, it's important that you go to a local law enforcement agency.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_06: So that helped drive my decision to become an Asheville Police Department officer.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_06: And just through the years through working at the agency, I had some great field training officers.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_06: Gosh, Mike Smith, Jeff Peterson uh helped me, Joe Rogers helped me.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_06: Um, Liz Bud was my primary training officer.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, all of them were great officers, great detectives that helped train me just to be a basic officer.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_06: And um then over the years I've had some some great mentors.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_06: Um I was on SWAT for 20 years, so I had some great team commanders, team leaders.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_06: Gosh, Chris Young, um Kevin West uh was team commander for a while, you know, different administrators like uh Ted Lambert, uh Ross Robinson, and then Tom Artima, and then after all they retired, there you had Bill Hogan.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_06: I've just had had a lot of good guidance over the years uh with some with some great supervisors.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_06: Uh I said Chris Young and then Wally Welch, and then you know, when Chief Hooper came in, her help, Mike Yelton.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_06: There's just there's such a long list of great officers that the department has had.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, we'd we'd be here all day naming, naming everybody.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_06: It takes a village of cops, so to speak.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_06: Well, it does, it really does.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_06: And then we've had great stakeholders, and Van Duncan helped teach me in BLET, and and when he was sheriff, we, you know, the police department and the sheriff's office did a lot together, worked alongside Sheriff Miller for 20 years when he was here at the Asheville Police Department.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, just a lot, a lot of lot of good talent that we've had, not only here, but but in the area, you know, also the partnerships that we've had with the SBI, U.S.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_06: Marshall's office, the FBI, DEA.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_06: Gosh, I d because I remember when I was in our in our street level drug unit, I got a certificate of appreciation from a case that I was involved in with the DEA.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_06: And there were two agents that were really great agents that I loved working with.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_06: It was Matt Bardin and Walt Thrower.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_06: Gosh, we had one restaurant at the time that was bringing 20 kilos of coke in on a weekly basis into Asheville.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_06: See, there was definitely a cartel tie there, and they were able to um help stop that flow of of cocaine at the time, and this was in the early 2000s.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_06: So there were some good cases.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_06: And gosh, I remember working with the U.S.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_06: Marshal's office whenever Eric Rudolph was captured, and we helped devise a security plan and guard his motorcade.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_06: He they flew him to Asheville Airport, drove him straight to the federal courthouse, and that's the only time I've ever done roadblocks uh carrying uh uh an AR-15.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and then they set us up outside of the U.S.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_06: courthouse because we were told that there were militia members that were that were planning on freeing Eric Rudolph out of like, you know, the far west side of Western North Carolina.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, which thankfully never happened.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, yes.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_06: And uh so you know, there there's been a lot of memorable events that have happened.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_06: And then of course there's, you know, the officers that you remember, the lives lost, folks that I loved.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, but like Jeff Hewitt and in 2004, Rob Bingaman and in 2013.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_06: You remember their lives.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_06: You remember the legacy that they left left as well.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_06: And it's you know, it's it's it's difficult to remember, but I think you know, we do the best we can on a daily basis in order to honor their memory.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_05: Speaking of legacy, you've mentioned some of the attributes and some of the things that uh the various chiefs have brought to the department and uh many things which I'm sure remain.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_05: Uh you know, Chief Hooper and Anna Reno and Zach.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_05: Uh when your time here is concluded, have you thought about what your legacy might be?
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_05: What were the things that you brought to this department?
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_05: Uh which you're coming up basically on one year.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I believe it was January of twenty-four.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh when you were uh sworn in as the chief.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_05: So about a year on the job so far, more time to come.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_05: What will your legacy be?
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_05: Have you thought about that?
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_06: I I repeat a lot of my guiding principles to to our officers.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_06: And one thing that I regularly say is that relationships are the currency of policing.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_06: What has helped me tremendously is, of course, being an Asheville native, but the relationships that I've developed over the years within the city of Asheville, you know, some of those were folks that I've arrested, folks that I had to fight, but um because in the moment and then during the arrest and then afterwards, always treated them with dignity and respect.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_06: And we always could have a conversation.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_06: And so, you know, those are folks that I've kept in contact with over the years.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but then, you know, working cases, especially in investigations, you're with people in some of their, you know, most fragile moments.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_06: And offering those folks hope in a time of despair really helps.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_06: And it you tend to build strong bonds during that time as well.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_06: You know, what I tell officers is that each encounter that you have, no matter how hopeless it is, to that person, you always give them hope.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_06: Because it's like to make Asheville safe and have a safe community in Asheville, the Asheville Police Department can't do it alone.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_06: It takes those relationships to truly understand what people are experiencing out in the community, some of the situations that lead to a crime occurring or a crime spree, and then being able to to work with a community to help solve those crimes and stop that crime spree.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_05: Some of the words that I've heard uh when you ascended to chief of police, stability, brought stability to the uh department, trust, transparency, uh, and respect.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_05: Uh those are things I have heard unprompted from community members that have approached me that said, Boy, Mike Lamb was a great hire.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_05: You know, and they've mentioned those things.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_05: What does that make you feel?
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_06: Uh makes me feel good.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, those are good, those are good things.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, yes.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_06: And it's um, you know, I've been I've been blessed in many ways and uh throughout this this career.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_06: And again, just those those relationships uh within the department, outside of the department, some great community stakeholders, great neighborhood association presidents, um I think a Kathy McCartan, Debbie Applewhite, Chris Banks, Megan Rogers with uh Downtown Association, now with Asheville Independent Restaurants.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_06: There's been so many great folks that have contributed to the police department and just to the city overall.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_06: And like for now, the Rotary Club is really going above and beyond and helping to recognize officers.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_06: So I really appreciate uh even Michelle and Elliot Spicer Green because the work that they're doing and then promoting the Citizens Police Academy.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_06: One thing that I really spoke on when I was appointed chief was the importance of importance of community engagement and being out there in the community.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_06: So one thing I did whenever I first became chief was working with Captain Brown to bring back the Citizens Police Academy.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_06: And so we had Citizens Police Academy back in the spring, and then we just finished our fall one, and now we're having applications go out for the spring academy.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_05: Now's a good time to mention.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_05: You can now sign up for the spring edition of the Citizens Police Academy, and the spots are available right now.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_06: So if you really want to learn the inner workings of the Asheville Police Department and build relationships with the great officers that we have, the Citizens Police Academy is one of the best places to do that.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_05: Well, we're gonna be having more conversations over the course.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_05: We've got a whole year to celebrate.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so it's a whole series of events.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_05: The year 2025 is dedicated to the 150th year of the Asheville Police Department.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_05: So uh looking forward to hearing some more stories, Chief Mike Lamb.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks for joining me today.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you, Rick.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_05: And thank you for listening to episode 11 of the APD Pod Squad.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks also to our guests, Senior Police Officer Tracy Edmonds, Accreditation Manager Hannah Silberman, Captain Joe Silberman, and Police Chief Mike Lamb.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_05: Don't forget if you've got a question for the Chief, you can ask the Chief by calling and leaving a voicemail to 828-250-8800 or email APD Podcastfeedback at AshevilleNC.gov.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_05: Don't forget to like, subscribe, or do whatever it is you gotta do to be reminded of new episodes of the APD Pod Squad as they drop about every two weeks.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_05: I'm Rick Rice, and this is the APD Pod Squad.