Part 1 | Asheville Police Chief David Zack

Much is made, at least anecdotally, about rising crime in Asheville. At the same time, the Asheville Police Department is down roughly 40 percent of its force. Citing both, Asheville Police Chief David Zack says the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 created a perfect storm his department is still struggling to recover from. 

Our wide-ranging conversation spans so much territory, The Overlook is breaking it into two parts (Part 2 is tomorrow's episode). Here, Chief Zack discusses the challenges he faced from the beginning of his tenure here, the recruiting and retention of officers and the stresses on officers working overtime to fill the gaps.