From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — City police “are inching closer to launching a program that would free up officers from responding to fender benders by hiring civilians to investigate minor car crashes,” the Asheville Citizen Times reported on Dec. 3.

The Asheville Police Department wants to turn over the job of responding to collisions to  the civilian team by the start of 2027, now-Interim Chief Jackie Stepp told an Ashville City Council subcommittee on Nov. 20. She said the APD is devising a budget to cover the cost of the program for which it will seek approval in the next funding cycle.

Previously, the APD’s goal was to launch the program by summer 2025, but Tropical Storm Helene and corresponding budget restraints extended the process, police spokesperson Rick Rice noted, according to the ACT. 

“In June 2023, former Gov. Roy Cooper signed a law that allows civilian crash investigator programs to exist and prevents insurance claims that seek to contest crashes investigated by someone other than a sworn officer, City Attorney Brad Branham said in the meeting,” the ACT noted.