ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — While Asheville police say violent crime has declined, U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson says the seriousness of some crimes and the age of people involved remain major concerns.
Ferguson, the U.S. attorney for North Carolina’s Western District, spoke with News 13 Tuesday about crime in Asheville following a summer marked by several shootings.
“Crime is going down,” Ferguson said. “But what I worry about, what keeps me up at night, is the seriousness of the crime.”
He said even one serious crime can have a lasting impact.
“One very serious crime is a low statistic, but it’s still a person’s life at the end of the day,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said he is also concerned by what he described as increasingly young people becoming involved in criminal activity.
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“We’re seeing crime get increasingly young,” Ferguson said. “The age of our criminals, it’s just incredibly young at this point in time, and they’re getting into either loosely affiliated gangs or official gangs.”
Ferguson’s comments come as Asheville police publicly used the word “gang” in connection with violent crime Monday. While discussing an April shooting, Asheville Police Captain Joseph Silberman said it is not unusual for people involved in violent crimes to have varying levels of association with gang activity.
Ferguson said Asheville has gangs and organized criminal activity, though he called the term “gang problem” loaded.
“There are gangs in Asheville. There’s no question about that, and there’s organized criminal activity in Asheville,” he said.
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Ferguson also pointed to organized drug trafficking. He said his office has seen drug cases involving people transporting drugs from Atlanta into Western North Carolina that have cartel connections.
“It’s cartel-connected. We see it all over the place. It is a problem everywhere, but it’s absolutely a problem here in Asheville,” Ferguson added.
Ferguson said his office is working to keep repeat offenders off the streets while also promoting education and after-school programs for young people exposed to violence.
“We want your children to be able to play in your front yard without worrying about having somebody come by and peddling drugs or shooting stray bullets into your home,” Ferguson said. “The way to do that is get the bad guys off the street and get the next batch of bad guys and intervene before they get into that life of crime.”
Source: wlos.com
