In a Tuesday evening ceremony, the Asheville Police Department recognized 32 people who completed its Citizens Police Academy. The program, offered twice a year, takes participants through in-depth tours and descriptions of the inner workings of the Asheville Police Department to give them a better understanding of law enforcement and build relationships with APD officers. “The [...]
From a City of Asheville press release: ASHEVILLE – Responding to requests by community members and Asheville City Council, the North Carolina Department of Transportation on Thursday reopened a pedestrian bridge that spans I-240 near the Smoky Park Bridge and Hillcrest Apartments. Asheville City Council voted in August to request the reopening. Though initially planned for mid-January, [...]
In the world of communications, diversity means increased reliability. The city of Asheville uses a number of telecommunication tools to ensure public safety communications are in line with making Asheville the safest city in America when compared to cities of similar size. Information about the city’s public safety delivery systems is highly sensitive due to its [...]
Before becoming a School Resource Officer, Jason Briscoe served in the military and worked as a patrol officer for the Asheville Police Department. But the Asheville native says working among students, teachers and administrators, first at Asheville Middle School, then at Asheville High, was an eye-opener. “My hat goes off to the teachers and principals and [...]
The Asheville Police Department’s recently opened Oakley Resource Center is the result of a series of partnerships and collaborations, all of which, says APD Chief William Hogan, were critical to the project’s success. The 2,500 square-foot facility provides a satellite station for the APD’s Baker District, which serves north and east Asheville, and officially opened with [...]
On October 4, the City of Asheville launched an interactive project called “Asheville Asks, Asheville Answers.” Every few weeks, the City of Asheville will post a special logo on its Facebook page, inviting people to post questions they have about the city in the comments section. Answers by city staff are recorded on video [...]
The Asheville Police Department presented business owner Russell Wood with a certificate of appreciation Wednesday, Sept. 1 in thanks for information he provided that resulted in Tuesday’s successful apprehending of Kenneth E. Allison. Wood, owner of Remax Advantage Realty, alerted police on Aug. 30 that Allison had visited his office the day before and had been [...]
In a ceremony on August 27, the Asheville Police Department issued 17 promotions to officers within the department. The ceremony, attended by family, fellow officers, Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy and City of Asheville personnel, took place in the Ferguson Auditorium of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. The occasion marked the promotion of 14 officers to the [...]
To keep kids safe, police are doing more than community policing and patrolling streets. Detectives in the Asheville Police Department also patrol the high-tech corridors of online communication. The job falls to APD’s Computer Crimes Unit, which was recently recognized in a regional, multi-agency law enforcement announcement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Perhaps the most high-profile [...]
On Friday, July 30, about 20 teens and their parents gathered in a room above the Asheville Police Department to graduate from the department’s Junior Police Academy. The free week-long academy is operated out of the APD’s Crime Prevention Unit and gives teens ages 14-17 first-hand exposure to various elements of criminal investigation such as [...]
Since pedestrians are still walking around the festival area after Bele Chere closes, officers from the Asheville Police Department stand guard at the festival barricades, keeping the streets closed to traffic. By about 6:30, when pedestrian traffic has thinned enough, festival officials put out a call to APD officers and festival staff that vendor vehicles [...]
How do you pack up a three-day festival in about six hours? After some 30 years of wrapping the Bele Chere festival, City of Asheville and festival staff have the system down to a sort of frenzied science. Multiple city departments, festival vendors and private companies all interact to make Bele Chere disappear overnight. With [...]