While I continue to struggle with the unsettling feeling that I am missing the big picture behind local rumblings about the Asheville Police Department, the local daily is suing the APD. This is a clever move.

A bunch of hubbub leading to the resignation of Chief William Anderson seemed to start with public complaints about the police videotaping rallies and occupations downtown. At least, that’s the first complaint Jonathan Robert lodged during the public comment portion of city council meetings. He said he had questioned one Lt. Byrd about the filming. Lt. Byrd then went ultra-vocal about complaints with the APD. Robert researched Anderson’s past and dredged up what he could and called for him to resign. Then, Ferguson went down. At the last meeting, Robert urged the city to hire another police chief of African descent lest his forcing of the chief’s resignation be viewed as racist.

When the public attended a city council meeting en masse to protest the police department’s filming of events, things were a little strange. A plastic pot plant sat in the audience and took the podium a couple times. City staff forced the folks out of the chambers so they could adjust their cameras. Anderson motioned with his smartphone from the back of the room. It was almost as if something illegal was about to be recorded.

What I’m saying is, the radicals were calling for the destruction of the tapes. The local daily is asking to see what’s recorded.