Latest / APD Pod Squad / Season 3, Episode 1; Interim Chief of Police Jackie Stepp, Deputy Chief Sean Aardema, Detective Mackenzie Galyean, and The History Minute with Hannah Silberman

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Season 3, Episode 1; Interim Chief of Police Jackie Stepp, Deputy Chief Sean Aardema, Detective Mackenzie Galyean, and The History Minute with Hannah Silberman · APD Pod Squad

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_06: This is the APD pod squad.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_06: Welcome to Season 3.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_06: I'm Rick Wright.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_06: In this episode, interim chief of police Jackie Steph joins me as we highlight some noteworthy items from the past year.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_06: No big surprise, it's a long list.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_06: With several major events coming up in the next couple of weeks in the Ashville area, including the G20 Finance Track meetings, an official PGA tournament event, and the Mountain State Fair, Deputy Chief John Artemis joins me to share some insights into the extensive planning these events require.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_06: And as we begin season three, we invite back a guest from season one, now Detective Mackenzie Gallion.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_06: She was a senior police officer last time in the Pod Squad, and we'll get caught up with her.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_06: In this edition's History Minute, Hannah Silverman returns with a back-to-school theme.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_06: Who were the first school crossing guards?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_06: And when did APD get their first student resource officers?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_06: It's all coming up on season three, episode one of the APD Pod Squad.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_06: Joining me now, interim chief of police, Jackie Stephen.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_06: As this is the first episode of Season Three, where has the time gone?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_06: I thought this would be a great time to look back at things that have occurred in the past year, and it's a long list.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: It is a long list, especially all when you start looking at all of the positive things that we do as an agency.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, sometimes it just kind of gets lost because we're so busy and there's so many things.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_06: This happens, and then you move on to the next thing.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_06: But I started coming up with a list, then you started coming up with a list, and now we've got like a full page and then some.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_06: Let's go ahead and just jump right in some of the cool things that have happened in the past year.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: To start, to really highlight some of the events that we participated in this year.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: When you look at our Special Olympics, the Polar Plunge, uh, that was fun.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Torchron tip a cop, Texas Roadhouse, where we had a couple people show up, myself included, in their cowboy boots and hat with the uniform.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: That was fun.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_06: Shout out to Sergeant Craig Loveland, who leads a lot of that.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_06: He spearheads a lot of the Special Olympics of the Ross.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_06: Does a fantastic job with all that.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_06: I know he's very passionate about it as well.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_06: Then we had the grand opening for the new West Asheville Resource Center at Tanger Outlets.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_06: That was a long time coming and a great facility.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: That is, and and so grateful for the partnership there with Tanger, but also, you know, being able to put uh one of our PID personnel, Christina, out there to really um open the opportunity for the community to be able to access us across the city and not always have to come, you know, downtown or to station 13 where Sean's at.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, and now they've got multiple options depending on where they are, somewhere really convenient.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_06: What else have we got?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Launched our Citizens Police Academy uh alumni group.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh actually it was something they were interested in because they wanted to find a way to really stay engaged with the police department.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you saw a couple of them.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Rick just last night at City Council speaking on our behalf.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: But beyond that, we've seen them show up at events that we've held here, cookouts and whatnot.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen them show up uh at all of our BLET graduations just to show support and let the officers know that they're supported from the community.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't be more grateful for for Captain Brown and what he's done with that program, and then frankly, the the willingness for them, the attendees, to want to stay engaged.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_06: Really shows you that knowledge is power.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_06: The folks that have come to the Citizens Police Academy, the things that they have learned have just reinforced their support for the police department.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_06: And then you've got the immersion academy.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_06: Speaking of the academies with Citizens Police Academy, the Immersion Academy, a new one.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what a great opportunity.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And gosh, again, our staff just continues to be innovative and think outside the box.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think all uh of the majority of our last immersion academy actually ended up applying here uh at the police department.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: So just such a good opportunity to focus on a targeted age group of people uh getting ready to really think about what career they want to enter and try to introduce them into law enforcement.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_06: We may have even gotten a couple of future officers in our junior police academy as well.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's so exciting too, just to spark their interest early on and try to stay engaged with them, try to find time between now and when they could apply to stay in contact with us is going to be fun.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_06: So I had no idea that Officer Robert Kroom was into the hot food, but he was a winner this year.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: He was a winner, and I I was there for that.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and let me tell you, when you say hot food, it was hot and he was sweating.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I actually checked on him days later uh because I I knew that that was going to hurt beyond just the initial taking the bite and eating the pizza that night.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, the winner of the hot slice pizza contest, so congratulations to Officer Kroom.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_06: Speaking of winning, we won the Red Cross Blood Drive again.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, yes, that's such a fun event.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: And shout out to our BLET class that really came out uh and supported that and everybody.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but you know, we had one of our largest class, and they showed up in force, uh, and we again took the trophy that sits uh right over here in the uh chief's office.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_06: So we're all about transparency and access to the community, and several things happened this year in that respect.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_06: One, we launched an APD YouTube channel to highlight the video projects that Will Shepard does such a great job on, and it provides additional access to the APD Pod Squad as well.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_06: And part of that is adding a Spanish translation to our press releases on our social media channel.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_06: So several things as far as getting the message out there to different community members.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: I agree with that.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I have to continue to highlight the innovation, the constructive feedback that we get from our officers because the Spanish translation in our press release was direct feedback from a line level officer.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and just so grateful that people are willing to speak up and give us feedback uh in areas that they see that we can improve, whether it's internally or connecting with the community.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_06: Now, was that one of the suggestions that's made as part of one of your new initiatives that we didn't even write down?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_06: I'm thinking of it now.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_06: Your uh your Ask the Chief.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_06: Is what did it come from that?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_06: It did.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: It came from uh tip to chief.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_06: Tip to chief, okay, which is something that you started uh as the interim chief probably what, was that like uh January, I think, or February of this year, somewhere around there?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think so.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: We we implemented that uh just as an opportunity to make sure that line level feels that they can reach the chief's office directly, and they can do it anonymously if they might uh not want to speak up in a roll call or whatever.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And we also rolled out what I call as the Chief's biweekly brief in an effort to strengthen our internal communication.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: But as you said earlier, knowledge is power and making sure that officers across the organization at every level, every rank, know what we're doing up here when we're at work all day and and operational and training and procedures and you know what I'm seeing, what I'm hearing.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm hoping that that has really helped strengthen some of the internal communication.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_06: Seems like a perfect time then to mention with that is some of the officers that have retired that we have lost, and then some of the ones we have gained.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_06: So, of course, we had six retire, including Chief Mike Lamb, and that happened in uh late November, I believe, which meant you were named the interim chief of police.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_06: So that's a big change in the past year, especially for you.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: It is a big change.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: We did have uh a number of retirements with the hiring.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: We had thirty new officers hired, and with that, though, we were able to relaunch our in-house police academy, uh, which is so special to me, particularly because I was part of the first uh police academy here.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: So grateful to be able to bring that back in-house.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, so we gained 30, lost six, so twenty-four to the positive, and we hope that continues to grow as we continue to grow our ranks.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_06: Speaking of officers, two line of duty deaths, which were back in the, I believe, early 1900s, finally recognized as such, Frank Hagan and Arthur Ramsey, and we had Captain Silberman go up to Washington, D.C.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_06: as their service and sacrifice are now permanently honored in the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and what a great honor.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: A shout out to all of our committee who was part of our history committee, Captain Silverman and everybody else, Hannah Silberman, Ray Ferguson, Jimmy Wingo, everybody that was part of that committee.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: We celebrated our 150th year during this this year, if you will, at the close of 2025, and that was part of that.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: They also launched a yearbook, so to speak, showing our history.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: So just a lot of good things came from that project.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_06: And a local brewery uh issued a blue light locker beer.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_06: Green Man Brewing helped us out with that.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_06: That was a fun event.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: That was so fun.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: And how cool to have uh a beer uh with your particular label on it.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that was really neat.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that was awesome, and some great artwork from them and a nice memento for some folks.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_06: Hey, congratulations to Lieutenant James Boyce, earned his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in this past year.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: He did, and he uh, you know, he's humble and and probably doesn't want to be recognized for that, but that's such a huge accomplishment.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: That is no easy achievement.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_06: Not at all.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_06: How about these two things?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_06: We relaunched the housing authority team and the traffic safety unit.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we did, and couldn't be more excited about our partnership with uh the Ella Santos, the housing CEO.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Couldn't be more excited to bring that traffic safety unit back, but we did it a little bit differently this year.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: We also uh provided, and they're coming in this week.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think we just got the last delivery of the three slick top vehicles uh for our traffic safety team.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: So really excited about that.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: And part of the housing team, uh Shane Ball, who was our officer of the year, is also driving around now in a ghost car, the police department's very first ghost car.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: So super excited again to start bringing some of those uh innovative, creative ideas, way to recognize employees' hard work to the organization.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_06: For the record, the ghost car not haunted.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_06: It just has a little subtler logo on the side.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_06: It's uh it's very cool looking.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_06: It came in last week.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_06: Congratulations to him on that.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_06: Now, that was a relaunch, those two departments there, the traffic safety unit and the housing authority team.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_06: This is brand new in cooperation with RHA Health Services and a grant from Via Health launching a co-responder program.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: What a long time coming.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm grateful to have that opportunity here at the police department.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: I was actually on foot patrol uh just yesterday and and called Kerry Lee and Karen over to engage Austin, an unhoused individual who, you know, he was released here from jail, so now he's here, but he wants to get back home to West Virginia.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: So so being able to pick up the phone and call that co-responder unit, if you will, to come and and and help me uh figure out a way to get him home.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, long term we do hope that it will take some resources away from patrol uh and allow them to stay free for emergency calls and and use this very specialized unit to engage uh with some of our more complex social and behavioral issues.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_06: Interim Chief of Police Jackie Staff is with me.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_06: That is a long list already of things that have occurred within the past year.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_06: Are we missing anything?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Rick, remember um I don't know if you participate in the program, but we started CleanEats.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we partnered with CleanEats this year as part of our wellness program.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so that's a great program.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_06: That's for officers so they can eat healthy while they're coming and going and doing their thing.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_06: You you order your food before the week.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_06: It's all delivered, it's all waiting for you in one of the fridges.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_06: Some of it gets heated up, some of it does not.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_06: I know you order it.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's just good.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's healthy, it's good to have here when you're in a hurry, and really grateful for that partnership and them to come uh and approach us for that opportunity.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_06: You got a favorite dish so far?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_06: What have you discovered?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_06: What's your favorite from there?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't have a favorite so far.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm not picky, I just eat it and move on.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_06: I see Deputy Chief Artemis eating the barbecue.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_06: I've seen it.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm surprised he orders.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: He's such a picky eater, uh, but he does.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: He absolutely does.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_06: So that's a a big year in review right there.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_06: And so it's the year of the podcast, not necessarily 2026.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_06: We still got some year to come.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_06: Have I forgotten anything?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, with the housing and the uh traffic safety, you know, I don't want to leave out uh, excuse me, our CROs.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they they were in here in-house in a division, uh, and we put them back out in the districts uh where we believe they'll have a greater impact, not only with their peers, but in the community.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: So super grateful.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: They were very optimistic uh and enthusiastic to get back out and be embedded in the districts.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: We also, Rick, I don't know if you know this yet, but we put pen to paper for the first time for a new bear cat for our emergency response team.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: That is something, Rick, if you don't know, that I have been asking myself, and I'm sure it goes beyond me, uh, but I have been asking the city of Asheville to do since 2018.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's eight years.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_06: It's eight years, finally got that approved.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Finally got it.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: It is finally on paper, and we are gonna make it happen.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_06: So when do we think that might arrive?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, from what I hear from Lieutenant Hill, is I think uh once you put pen to paper, you're still about a year and a half out because it's a it's a special build.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's so complicated, right?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_06: And it's specific to what we would like it to do and different things that occur within that vehicle.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_06: So we get to design that one, like we get to say we'd like this.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_06: It's a kind of like an a la carte type thing.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh Lieutenant Hill and those ERT members will be directly involved with how that how that looks.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: So that's our last specialty vehicle.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, we did the bomb, we did the command bus, we've done CNT.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so this was a last really big project and goal that we wanted to accomplish.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: We we share with Bunkham County currently.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: So to be able to have our own and give our members their own to where we never have to worry what happens if something happens at the same time.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Who who flips the coin for the bear cat, uh, I think it's just going to be instrumental for that team.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_06: And it's important that we have all of those different vehicles as well, because people look to us as the largest law enforcement agency in Western North Carolina, right?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_06: The Asheville Police Department.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_06: So we have to help other agencies sometimes, and having these at our disposal are things that they don't in, like, say, Jackson County or Yancey or any of those places.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and part of what we you know, what we say, what we've said for years is we're gonna be the best trained, best equipped, best paid.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're still working on that, but we mean that, and and we're gonna do everything we can to continue to work toward that.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_06: A great year it was.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_06: Looking forward to another good year and third year of the APD Pod Squad.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: And don't forget, Rick, also implement some new insignia on our uh rank, if you will, officers in the field.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: We have uh senior police officer, master police officer insignia now.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: So if you see an officer out in the field, pay attention to their sleeves and you'll you'll kind of start to see uh the tenure that they have here at the police department.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_06: It's a great way to honor their years of service.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And again, that initiative came from employee feedback.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I just want to highlight uh how grateful I am from the engagement uh in our police officers, the willingness to present ideas, whether it's through tip to chief or a hallway conversation uh or what have you.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I also, you know, we talked about a lot of fun things.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um I also do want to take just a second to recognize that we have had a number of unprecedented serious incidents within this time frame that we're talking about.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I cannot say how proud uh I am enough to serve the men and women of the Ashville Police Department who continue to show up every day, face these challenges, and do so uh with professionalism and courage, and also with our partnerships with all of our law enforcement agencies.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, they've done a great job this past year, and I know they'll continue to do so.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_06: Looking forward to another great year, Chief.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for joining me.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much, Rick.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_06: Joining me now, Deputy Chief Sean Artemon.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_06: Sean, thank you.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_06: It's uh appropriate that as we kick off the third season of the APD Pod Squad, we start with the beginning of the alphabet.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_06: As your name is spelled A-A.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_06: Was it literally the first name in the phone book like back in the day?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_06: No.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_05: There was a family name Anonson.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, so the A-A-N.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_06: A-A-N.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_06: They they the N came before the R.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_06: Was that a that was a family type thing or upset about that?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_06: They're like, I can't believe that nonsense family beat us to the punch.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I recall it distinctly.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_05: Um but the flip side is as a matter of fact, uh yesterday uh went to meet the teacher with my son and uh he's starting in sixth grade.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_05: So they have three different teachers in sixth grade now in his intermediate school.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_05: And so he got to visit all three classrooms and found out in all three classrooms he's sitting at the front of the class.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_05: And I've been warning him about this for years at this point.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_05: Uh once you start getting into these bigger schools and changing classes, uh the teachers typically at the beginning of the year will seat you alphabetically.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_05: So go ahead and get used to always being seated in the front of the classroom.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you don't get to pick where you sit most of the times, especially especially in the earlier grades.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_06: I was lucky, my last name starts with an R, so I was usually I was mixed all over the place, but a lot of times in the back, which was great for shenanigans.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_05: And I may trigger some listeners, but you know, I'm sure everyone remembers presentation day in some class in school.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_05: Oh yeah.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_05: You know, the the bundle of nerves that you were, and the the time would come and the teacher would say, Do we have any volunteers?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_05: Usually the answer was no.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_05: Just dead silence from the class.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_05: And so first kid.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_05: We're gonna go down the list alphabetically.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_05: So he'll get to experience that soon.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, very soon, and often, as they say.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_06: All right, so as we kick off the third year of the APD Pod Squad, which is pretty cool, where has the time gone?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_06: Uh we've got some big events coming up in Asheville, right?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_06: So, and some of them just beyond Asheville city limits, but that involved the Asheville Police Department.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_06: So let's just go right in chronological order, because coming up really soon.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_06: Matter of fact, the day that this episode lands is the G twenty finance track meetings.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_06: Uh and that's going to be August 29th to September 1st.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_06: Now that presents some different challenges.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_06: We're not talking about thousands of people arriving for that, but very important people from multiple countries, which present certain security risks.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so you've got finance ministers and and their delegations from the top twenty financial economies internationally.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_05: So the overall numbers they anticipated it to be around 500 people.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_05: So it's not a huge amount of people.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_05: But being as though you've you've got these dignitaries coming from all over the world, like the obviously the the security around that is is pretty massive.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_06: And obviously, most of what happens is going to be behind closed doors, and most of the public is not going to see any of it.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_06: But is there going to be anything residual that uh the people of Asheville are going to deal with traffic issues, anything else?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_05: No, we we actually don't anticipate much traffic impact whatsoever.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_05: Um North Asheville because of the facility that they're staying in, uh they they plan to to pretty much remain there for the majority of the summit.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_05: Again, we don't anticipate a whole lot of traffic impact from that.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_05: You know, unless you live around the Alony Grove Park and in North Asheville.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so you will see impacts there.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_06: So the Treasury Department is probably handling most of the security, right?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_06: Them and their people.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_06: But are we offering a supplement to that?
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_05: Not just the Nasheville Police Department.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_05: We're really fortunate in Buckham County to have some really good law enforcement partners here.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_05: So all of them have stepped up to the plate to help us out because there will be some checkpoints.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_05: There are going to be vehicles coming and going from the property, but they have to be credentialed to actually get onto the property.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_05: So there's going to be the police, your local police will be conducting those checkpoints to make sure vehicles that are entering the property are authorized to be there.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_06: You know, I'm sure there's people that are going to want to uh fly their drones nearby.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_06: I'm guessing that's going to be rounded.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_05: There is a uh a temporary flight restriction in place, and uh some of our federal partners will be monitoring that there you go.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_06: That answers that question right there.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_06: So as soon as we recover from that, which is a big operation, then we got the Mountain State Fair.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_06: Now, once again, that is just beyond city limits, I believe.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_06: But will involve the APD in a way with traffic and things like that.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_05: So the WNC Agricultural Center is kind of an interesting topic on that property.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_05: At one point in time, the city of Asheville had annexed that property, and the North Carolina General Assembly a few years later has to bill to de-annex that property from the city of Asheville.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_05: So it is not within the city limits of Asheville anymore.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_05: However, all the streets bordering it, uh part of Fanning Bridge Road and Airport Road itself, uh are within the city limits of Asheville.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_05: So it's it can get a little complicated through there for us.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_06: I'm not familiar with the de-annexing.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think I've ever I'm not gonna get into that.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_05: It uh it it seemed like there was a lot more to that story at the time, Rick.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_05: I would imagine there was.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm not an elected official or uh interested in becoming one.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so but it yes, it it seemed like there was more to that story.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_06: As I often uh answer when I get some media inquiries, listen, we enforce the law, we don't write or make the law.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_06: Exactly.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_06: So we'll leave that to them and we'll just stay in our lane.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_06: And that uh I believe that's what, ten days?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_06: I think the Mountain State First.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_05: It's over two weeks.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, it's over two weeks.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_05: I want to say it's like two and a half weeks.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's actually kind of a weird length of time because it's not a week.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_05: You could be right, but I want to say it's like two and a half weeks.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe I have to look at the dates again.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_06: But either way, it's gonna overlap with the next big event, also just outside city limits, but definitely impacting the city of Asheville, because I think some uh bus shuttles I think are going to take place some inside city limits and things of that nature.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_06: It's exciting though to have an actual PGA golf event.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_06: These are big deals.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_06: So the Biltmore Championship is gonna be at the Cliffs at Walnut Cove from the seventeenth to the twentieth.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_06: So how are we involved and how does that affect us?
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_05: So you're right, the cliffs at Walnut Cove and their course is not in the City of Asheville.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_05: It's near the intersection of Brevard Road and Longshells Road, which is fully within Buncombe County's jurisdiction.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_05: However, there are a multitude of events planned for to occur in Biltmore Park as well as Biltmore Village.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_05: And keep in mind the vast majority of the hotels in South Buncombe are all within the city limits of Asheville.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_05: You're correct.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_05: There will be shuttles from Biltmore Park that will be running back and forth to the course.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_05: Also, there's a plan for overflow parking at Tanger Outlets on Brevard Road, just off I-26, which is also within the city limits of Asheville.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_05: So there's going to be some pretty significant traffic impacts.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_05: Longshills Road.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_05: Between the Mountain State Fair and the PGA event, people can anticipate some pretty significant impacts.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_05: Longshells Road, I-26, and Brevard Road.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_06: You know, it's got to kind of act a little bit like the SOCON too, where a lot of people are going to come to town for this event and then also do other things.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_06: Correct.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_06: So you're going to see them downtown, you're going to see them maybe on some trails around town, maybe at the Arboretum, things like that.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_06: So we can expect just added people on the roads in general.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_06: So mark your calendars for that one, the 17th to 20.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_06: Maybe a little more difficult to get a reservation at your favorite restaurant that period of time.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_06: Especially anywhere near that facility.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_06: Anywhere towards South Asheville, I would think.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_06: Especially maybe even in downtown.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_06: Or more village for that matter.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_06: You know, that area, which is just kind of beginning to kind of rebound a little bit.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know, Explore Asheville's putting out a lot of information about co-events going on with the PGA event.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_05: So their social media and their their information pages have a lot of information about some events that are going on concurrently along with the PGA.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_05: So they've been pretty engaged with that event from the beginning.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_06: And it's a multi-year contract.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_06: So this is not just a one-off.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_06: I believe it's three years, I think.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, but either way, so this is something that's going to be here for a few years.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_06: And unfortunately, I'm a huge golf fan, right?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_06: And and I was hoping to go, but I saw the dates.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_06: I'll actually be out of town then celebrating my twenty-fifth anniversary.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_06: So I'll be heading down to Savannah during this.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_06: So good news, I guess, for me is if it comes back next year, I can see it next year, and some of the the stars of the PGA will not be at this one.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_06: Like the biggest names won't, yeah, because it it falls a week after the president's cup, which involves the Scotty Schefflers of the world, the Rory McElroys.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_06: But rest assured, a lot of big names will be playing some great golf on a very difficult golf course.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_06: I'll be honest with you, Rick.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_05: You're you might as well be speaking Japanese to me right now.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_06: I know you're not a not a big golf guy.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_05: You like going to driving ranges, but that's more like venting frustration than anything else.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you don't keep your clubs in the trunk, is what you're saying.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_06: No.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, so Deputy Chief Sean Arma, thank you very much for being a part of our first episode of the third season and talking about some big events we've got coming up.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_06: Uh hopefully uh we'll get through all three of them without incident.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_06: I'm optimistic.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_05: I think they'll all go well.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_05: You know, we've got some really good staff here, as well as partners that we're working with on all those events.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_05: And they're all exceptional people and exceptionally dedicated to the safety of this community.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_05: And the planning that has gone into all three of those things is is really exceptional.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_05: So the community can count on us and count on those those partners as well that I'm very confident will go off without a hitch and I'll be really safe.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_06: Deputy Chief Sean Arma, thank you for joining me.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_06: Joining me now, Detective Mackenzie Gallion returning to the podcast studio, but a different studio this time.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_04: A lot roomier in here.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_06: Isn't this nicer?
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_04: It's very nice.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_06: We were kind of packed into that other room.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_04: Knee-to-knee, kind of.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_06: We're in a much larger closet now, as they say.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_06: So last time you were here was season one.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_06: And as we kick off season three of the APD Pod Squad, I wanted to look back at some of the people that have been here previously and see kind of what was and what is, you know, and where they've come and for for people that have changed positions.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_06: And you're one of those people.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yeah.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_06: When you were here before, uh, it was, I believe, uh early 2025.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_06: So maybe about a year and a half ago.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_06: And you were a senior police officer.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_06: Well, since then, you've become a detective.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_06: So when did that happen?
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_04: Uh that happened around six months ago.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_04: I finally got the call to come up here to the second floor.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_04: It's been a lot of fun.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_04: I'm learning a lot.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_06: Did you take part in that uh CID intern program?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_04: I did.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_06: So tell us about that a little bit.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_06: I've talked with Captain Silberman about it, and he says that's been great for everyone.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_04: It kind of just you get your toes kind of dipped in the water, you get to experience what it's like to be up in CID and then hanging out with the all the other people who are detectives is really helpful.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_04: And working cases and seeing like the workflow is a little bit different.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_04: So that was nice to see how it is and then to put in and get the spot.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, when people think detective, they think you're going out and you're you're pounding the ground, you're knocking on doors, you're hitting the streets, but you are not.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_06: You're a different kind of detective.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_06: You're working in the uh the computer crimes area, right?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_06: So how did that happen?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so Phil Allen, a great detective, recently retired and there was an open spot, and they're like, Hey, do you want to come?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_04: And I was like, Yeah, I'm really interested in, you know, catching the bad guys who are doing stuff they shouldn't be doing.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's been awesome just learning how to catch people doing stuff on the computer they shouldn't necessarily be doing.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_06: How are you on the computer?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, is it somewhere you're totally comfortable or has that been a learning curve?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_04: It's been a learning curve.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like I'm kind of a grandma level, like computer knowledge-wise, but yeah, I've been learning.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_04: It's fun.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_06: I'm I'm a hunt and pecker.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_06: I can point and click with the best of them, but you start putting together all the different Excel spreadsheets and all that.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_06: I I'm no good at that.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, luckily, not a lot of Excel spreadsheets.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_04: Luckily, because I'm not good with them either.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_06: So who's been your mentor in the room?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Scott James.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_06: How long has he been there?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_04: I think altogether he's been there now five years in the computer crimes.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_04: Super knowledgeable, great mentor.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_04: He's been teaching me a lot, and I think together we're gonna make an excellent team and really make a difference, hopefully.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_06: Detective Sean Parker is also kind of new to that, right?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yeah.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_04: He just hasn't he doesn't have any of the classes that you need to be able to do extractions on cell phones or computers.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_06: I know that he has spent a lot of time uh getting used to the lie detector.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_06: Uh he's been the polygraph, he's been going through all those classes.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_06: So he's our new he also replaces Phil Allen.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_04: Mm-hmm.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_04: Polygraph School, I it's really, really hard, they say.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_04: And it I think he was gone for like two months.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_06: I can see why, though.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_06: I I mean it's not there's nothing like a big bright light that, like, you're lying.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_06: You know, it doesn't work that way.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_06: It's uh it's kind of in a way like you see on TV, but instead of you know, the old scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scroll, you're like you see that, right?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_06: Like a seismograph or whatever, or something like that.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_06: It is more all on a computer, on a computer screen.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_06: And I remember taking my own one, and gosh, I was nervous, asking him, how exactly does this work?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_06: I was just curious.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_06: And he kind of told me, it's like, you know, it's first of all, you're all probed up, you got all these things sticking to you, which is just weird.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_04: And you can't move if you move, it might trigger, yeah.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_06: Like, okay, yeah, it's the weirdest thing.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_06: It's like you're afraid to do anything.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_06: And that actually lends itself to it too, because you're like, okay, I'm not lying, but it might think I'm lying.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_06: I'm sweating a little bit here, but it's you know what I mean?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_04: Uh oh yeah.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_06: But because of that, the accuracy is just incredible for those things.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, when I took my polar graph like almost nine years ago now, they're like, I think you're being a little deceptive.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, I swear I'm not lying to you.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_06: I just I was very But we've got this device that's telling us that you are being dis I'm not! I'm really so then when you start denying that you it's a whole thing.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_06: You're good, but obviously you're here with us, so they believed you.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_04: Thankfully.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_06: So going back to the first time you were on the show, remember I gave you a homework assignment.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know if you remember that.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_04: My memory's terrible.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_06: So I asked if you knew the song Milikaliki Maka on the ukulele.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_04: Shoot, I haven't done it.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_04: I mainly do Taylor Swift covers.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_04: I love Taylor Swift.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_06: For those that didn't hear the first time Mackenzie was on, she plays the ukulele.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_06: That was the unique skill, the thing that most people don't know that you brought to the table.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_06: So you still play it though.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_04: I do.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_06: I mean you've vested a lot of it.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_06: At this point, you gotta stick with it.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, I love it.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's like a good release and a good hobby.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_06: You know, really, so we've got these uh APD cookouts this week, right?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_06: We've got two.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_06: I didn't see it the first one.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_06: Are you going to the second one tonight?
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_04: Hopefully, yes.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_06: So are you taking the ukulele?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh, no.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_06: You got to just bust that out.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_04: I think people would make fun of me.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_06: No.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_06: Well, they yes, they would.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, I take it back.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_06: They would absolutely make fun of you.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_06: But in the world of you kid because you care, you'd be the star of the party.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, come on, just all of a sudden, oh, oh, I forgot.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_06: I got this thing in the car.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_06: And didn't it, didn't it, did it, d next thing you know, I could learn that before.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_06: A total sing-along would ensue at that point, right?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, you've got the drum circle downtown.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_06: We could have the ukulele circle.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_04: A cop ukulele circle.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, a cop ukulele circle.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_06: We'd be the first one in the country to have our own ukulele circle.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_06: So, uh, another first, okay, you were the first one to play the ukulele that I knew of.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_06: You you're a detective now, senior police officer.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_06: Then you were the first female at APD to teach defensive tactics.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_06: So, how's that going?
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_06: You're still doing that.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, I love it.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it's funny that you talk about that because Lieutenant Boyce, who's like the lead instructor, is wanting to kind of throw in the towel and just sit in the corner and like let me take over that.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, whoa, buddy.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_04: Calm down.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_06: Slow your rolls.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_04: I just got comfortable being an assistant here.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_06: But you're tackling a lot, like in this just in these last couple of years.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_06: Have you have you always been that way?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_06: Just like jump right in.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_04: I mean I hear it's good to be uncomfortable.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_04: And I like I enjoy, you know, like teaching people.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, just being in front of people.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_06: I'm like, not so much, uh.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_04: But it's been fun, yeah.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_04: Like I like jumping into this just because I know it'll help me grow and become like a better instructor.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so that's fun.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_04: But I've when I grew up, I was very much not a let me jump into this if I'm not good at it type person.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_06: Almost an introvert, really?
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_04: Or yeah.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_06: Really?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_06: You don't strike me as that.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_06: Is it brought you out of your shell a little bit just this job?
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yes and no.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yes and no.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_06: Just you're still a little bit uncomfortable, but trying your best.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_04: It's a facade, really.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_04: It's all a facade.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_06: Detective Mackenzie Gallion joins me.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_06: She was with us in season one of the APD Pod Squad, and at the time, a senior police officer and now a detective.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_06: That must have been exciting when you got your gold badge there.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_06: You got your detective badge.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_04: I feel so cool.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_06: You well, you're definitely with the cool kids now.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, exactly.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_06: Hanging out, y'all got your own cubicles, although you guys have a specific room because you are in computer crimes.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_06: So, how does that behave differently than being a detective working on a case that's, you know, just not a computer crimes case, somebody that is just working a regular case, a homicide, something else like that.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_06: You're exclusively on computers.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_06: You're working with other detectives, I would guess.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_06: Like together on a case.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_04: I don't have to talk to as many people like outside, but like when I was in general assignment, I'd have to make a lot of phone calls.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_04: Which in my personal life, I hate talking on the phone.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_04: So now that I don't have to do that as much, it's it's pretty nice.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_06: There's almost this generational dividing line that you know how old somebody is when they actually use a phone as a phone.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_06: And apparently I've been told that you you're not even allowed to leave voicemails for people anymore.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_06: You're not supposed to speak when the voicemail comes.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_06: You're supposed to text.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_06: See, I'm still bad.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_06: I still leave the voice.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_06: I'm like, well, I already called.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_06: Isn't it rude not to leave a voicemail?
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_06: But apparently you're not supposed to do that.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, just leave a text, man.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_04: Just text me.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_06: I just text me.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I usually do, but if I've called someone because it's just easier to have a conversation, I'm not gonna like quickly hang up when it hits the VM.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_06: You know what I mean?
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_06: It's just like it seems weird, but then on the other end, they're like, oh my God, I gotta listen to this thing.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_06: So this is that's the age thing right there.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_06: That's my age showing.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_06: So you're you're part of the younger generation.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_06: I'm a millennial or just uh which which generation are you then?
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_06: I'm a Gen X.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a millennial.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_06: Are you?
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_06: So what do they say about millennials?
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_06: What's what's the word on millennials?
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_06: I know what they say about us Gen Xers.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_04: I think that we're like not as cool as Gen Z.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like we're just kind of existing.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_04: Like I feel like we kind of got the worst of both worlds where we don't really fit in with you guys, but we definitely don't fit in with Gen Z.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_06: So we're just kind of I'd rather be a millennial than a Gen Z, though.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_06: The the the rep for the Gen Z isn't great.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_06: I mean there's a lot of things attached to that youngest generation.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_06: Is that the newest one or is there another one?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_06: Isn't it Gen Alpha or something?
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_04: There's something younger.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_06: I can't keep track of these two.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_06: Well, they shouldn't have started so high in the alphabet, right?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_06: Well, uh they went from what, boomers to Gen X.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_06: And so now we're only left with a few letters left in the alphabet.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_06: Now we got to go back to the beginning.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_06: It's very confusing.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_04: It is.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_04: I don't get it either.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_04: I'm glad I'm not a gen.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_04: I'm glad I'm a millennial.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_04: That's true.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_06: You don't got a gen attached to your millennial.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_04: Original.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_06: And you're Detective Mackenzie Gallion.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_06: And thank you so much for revisiting the APD Pod Squad in the brand new palatial studios.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_06: It's beautiful.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_06: On the third floor.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_06: Isn't it nice?
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_06: It's very nice.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_06: And thank you for putting up our sign.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_06: I helped.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, you did.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_06: You got it level for us.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_06: I tried.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_06: Is it level?
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_06: I'm looking at it.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_06: Oh boy.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_06: We might have to take that down, put it back up again.
• 35:39
  unknown: Oh no.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_06: Detective Mackenzie Gellion.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you so much for joining me.
• 35:44
  unknown: Thank you.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_06: Time again for another History Minute with Hannah Silberman, the first of season three.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_06: Welcome back.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: Glad to be here.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_06: Speaking of uh getting back at it, the kids back at school.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_06: All right, so we've got a kind of a theme with this one.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_06: We've got several things school related, I guess we would say, including we have the first SROs, we've got that.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_06: We've got an interesting factoid that you just chucked out there about teachers in the 1950s and their role with the APD.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_06: So let's just go ahead and jump right in and hodgepodge the whole thing, a little potpourri of back to school activity with the APD.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Sure.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get started in the 1940s, and it's going to be with our school crossing guards.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sort of also our first female police officers in 1942 when they had to abolish the traffic squad at the department because so many male police officers went abroad and joined the armed forces for World War War II.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_06: We've talked about this briefly, I know in the past, about the first female police officers were basically crossing guards.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: So the primary job of our traffic unit was actually to serve as a crossing guard for the school zones, and they would write tickets for people who sped through.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that was also the job for first female police officers.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought that was an interesting job related to our schools, and they were very important.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: And in the 1950s, they sort of phased that out, but then they also kept on some of those females working on the street.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_06: Well, you know, the whole World War II, Rosie the Riveter women were getting into manufacturing and industry and all kinds of different roles that weren't traditionally theirs previous, so kind of served as a launching pad for a lot of that.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Absolutely.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: So segueing sort of into that as well, a little later in the 1950s, they kind of got upset because we didn't have a lot of police officers for the size of our city.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: And in response to that, they started hiring extra police officers in the summer, because in the summer we got an influx of tourists.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it was either extra motorcycle officers or extra patrolmen to kind of handle the increase in the calls for service.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: We experienced that today as well.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: So they came up with a very creative solution, which is they hired school teachers who are off in the summer to be temporary police officers.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_06: If they're indeed qualified.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't have to do a lot of training.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: So they would just kind of give them a uniform and set them out.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: So in June of 1957, they hired nine new officers.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: One of them was permanent and the rest were temporary, but five of them were school teachers.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: Three were college students who just worked until they went back to school.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Ross Powell Okay.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: So most of them were high school teachers, so I guess they had a good hard hand.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: And one of these was Buck Leida, who ended up being our sheriff for quite a while in the I want to say 1960s or 1970s.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: So he started out as a school teacher.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_06: So he was a teacher that became a police officer and then eventually the sheriff.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: So here's a list of the different teachers.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: There was a teacher at Grace High School.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_06: Grace High School?
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: David Miller Junior High School.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_06: That obviously doesn't exist anymore at all.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh North Bunkham High School and Irwin High School.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Ross Powell Okay.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_06: Where was Grace High School?
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_06: Do you know where that was?
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: It says teacher at Joseph Benes of Edwood Road, teacher at Grace High School.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: But that was also at the same time that we started having a crime prevention bureau that was specifically towards juveniles.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_06: So that was a really big deal in the 1950s, was juvenile delinquents and teachers would have the best experience in how to deal with those particular people too, right?
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_06: The experience.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think in the 1950s there wasn't a set juvenile justice system.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it was what do you do for children who break the law?
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to send them to jail.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so we actually started in the early 1950s our crime prevention bureau that was headed by Sergeant Harry Godwin, whose son ended up working here as well.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually Joseph Jarvis, who became our deputy chief.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Powell Everything I know about the 1950s I learned by watching Happy Days.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_06: So is there any accuracy to like the Fonds or any of that?
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_06: Is it Probably I don't know much about the 1950s either.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: But for the most part, we didn't have anybody in the schools until 1976, which was when we got our first official type of SRO.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Powell In 1976?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_06: That really was not that long ago.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_06: Of course, I say that as somebody that was alive in 1976.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_06: I was eight or nine years old or whatever.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_06: I couldn't imagine, you know, you think of it now, of there not being SROs in the schools.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Ross Powell Yeah.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it you know, it costs it does cost money to have those officers there.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so in 1976, it was a federal grant that allowed us to station two police officers at the schools.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it was Willie Allen who was one of our first, and Grover Honeycutt.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think his first name's Honey.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: They always use their initials.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's D.S.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: Honeycutt.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so they worked at South French Broad Junior High, which is Asheville Middle today, Hill Street Middle School, and Hall Fletcher Middle.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Ross Powell So it was a government grant, so probably not a permanent thing.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell No, not at all.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: It only lasted, I think, two years.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then we actually didn't have the SROs as we have them today until the 1990s.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Ross Powell Wow.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_06: Now that's even crazier.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_06: I get the 1970s, you know, the fact that we didn't have before then is kind of shocking.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_06: But when you consider we didn't really have anything permanent until the nineties, I mean I was out of college by then.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_06: I I guess looking back when I was going to school, high school and all that, and I graduated high school in 1986, you're right, there was no officers, at least in our school.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_06: Maybe some had them, but at least there was none where I went to school.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_06: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: So in January of 1990, it was our first agreement with the Asheville City Schools for a full-time officer for the school system, and that was Doug Berner.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: In 1992, Detective Robertson, Walt Robertson, took over, and he was known by all the kids as Big Walt.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, Big Walt, of course.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_06: So now the SROs at the time, they were Asheville Police Department officers, as they are now.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_06: So we don't have SROs at every school, and some of them actually function at multiple schools, correct?
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_06: I know we got Big Joe Jones at Asheville High School.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_06: Great dude.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_06: Jason Gall was just on uh the last episode of the APD Pod Squad.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_06: He's at Asheville Middle, and he was at an elementary school before that.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_06: So they they do have some of them floating, but they are now permanent fixtures of the Asheville Police Department.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_06: I think now we understand the importance of the SROs.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_06: It's more than just law enforcement officers roaming the halls.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_06: These these officers that we have develop relationships with the students, they can in some cases divert problems from occurring and you know, from ever happening by getting these relationships with the kids and the teachers, and we obviously see how valuable they are today.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_06: So long time coming, but eventually we got to where we are now where I think everyone can agree how valuable student resource officers are.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_06: Hannah Silberman, thank you again for another History Minute.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_06: Well, that's it for the first episode of season three of the APD Pod Squad.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you to my guests, Interim Chief of Police Jackie Stepp, Deputy Chief Sean Artemis, Detective Mackenzie Gallion, and Hannah Silberman with the History Minute.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_06: As always, thank you for listening.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_06: Got a comment, question, or topic suggestion?
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_06: Call 828-250-8800 and leave a voicemail.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_06: That's 828-250-8800.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_06: Or you can just email me at APD Podcastfeedback at AshevilleNC.gov.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_06: Listen and subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts and don't miss a single episode.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_06: Can't wait to see what season three brings.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_06: I'm Rick Rice, and this is the APD Pod Squad.