From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Two months after rolling out the Asheville Police Department’s “Downtown Plan,” officials reported on June 26 a visible increase in foot and bike patrols. 

The initiative targets quality-of-life concerns—such as public drug use and trespassing—while collaborating with mental health resources to connect individuals in crisis with appropriate services.

While some downtown business-owners and stakeholders reported that the enhanced patrols and friendly, proactive engagement are making a positive difference, the city continues to balance enforcement with community-support initiatives.

The APD on April 9 launched the “Downtown Plan” to address repeated complaints from local business-owners, residents and visitors regarding open drug use, public intoxication and a visible homelessness crisis. 

The new initiative combines doubled foot and bike patrols with enhanced coordination between law enforcement, local firefighters, and mental health crisis responders.

The safety push was rolled out in direct response to intense, mounting pressure from downtown merchants, hotel operators, and visitors regarding rising issues with open-air drug use, property vandalism and visible homelessness.

Citing a srge in crime and nuisances,. merchants had voiced mounting frustration over property crimes, vandalism, and aggressive panhandling that impacted storefronts.

The renewed effort builds upon a short-term 60-day “Downtown Safety Initiative” launched in spring 2023 that tackled upticks in commercial burglaries and property crime.

“APD says there is no end date for the program. Officials say that as they continue hiring more officers, maintaining the increased downtown presence will become easier,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on June 26.

News 13’s “Comment Bubble” following its story included the following assertions: 

• Ccmiller — “Your liberal politics on crime are killing tourism in the mountains of N.C. Tourism funds this economy... you out-of-touch liberals.”

• SuperSot — “Go a block below the police department after 10 p.m. and let us know if a difference has been made. Spoiler alert, it hasn’t.” 

• WindRidge — “So if they stop saying that and they stop seeing some of the things, they (tourists) will come back”

“So, how do they stop seeing things — if they never come back?”

• WindRidge — “Curse of the Vance Monument... It only gets worse in every way.”

• Peace11 — “Asheville lives rent-free in Trumpers’ head — lol, love it!! Keep living a sad and lonely life, commenting on news articles, lol.” 

• Joe.AVL — “None of this would be a problem if the city, county, state and country was lib-free.”

• LovesCats — “Go live in D.C.”

• EHemingway _ “Overall change since 2019 — 27.7 percent (drop in sworn officers and in detectives, 50 percent (the cops who investigate and solve violent crimes!!) 

“The Asheville Police Department employs 172 sworn officers as of March 2026, which is a significant decline from the 238 officers it had on staff in 2019. Detective staffing has suffered even more severely due to a prolonged attrition and staffing crisis: the department plummeted from its historic footprint to just 11 active detectives during the height of the crisis, and still faces over 40 criminal investigations vacancies.”