This section is Asheville’s own story, reconstructed from the city’s videos, minutes, and released records. Start with the timeline; every entry on it links to a deeper page here.
Start here
- Timeline: What happened, when, with receipts. From the county’s 2022 network to the August 25 vote.
- The People Who Showed Up: 36 residents, nine meetings, all but one opposed. The community’s arguments, verbatim and timestamped.
The meetings, minute by minute
- Aug 20, 2026: The Termination Resolution, Previewed: Flock’s new 10-camera minimum kills the one-camera plan; the chief’s memo says Axon plate readers are “expanding.”
- May 12, 2026: The Midnight Vote: The 6 to 1 vote, reconstructed from the city’s own video; 21 signed-up residents sent home unheard.
- May 7, 2026: The Contract That Didn’t Exist: Five days out, the Axon contract isn’t written, and “one camera” is explained as a network subscription.
- April 28, 2026: The Sales Pitch: Vendor reps flown in, no public comment, the Durham example collapsing live.
- March 25, 2025: First RTIC Money, on Consent: Buried between bulletproof vests and DEA grants; “the center already exists.”
- March 7, 2025: The Briefing That Almost Didn’t Happen: Council learns of a two-year-old surveillance program because one member read the news.
What the record shows
- The RTIC Policy: The released rulebook: what Policy 1703 says, what disappeared between drafts, the private workgroup that wrote it, and the Axon contract emails.
- Promise Tracker: What APD promised on the record, and whether it holds.
- Their Claims vs. The Record: Every claim used to sell the RTIC, quoted exactly, answered with the documented record.
- The Public Safety Committee: Every recorded meeting reviewed: zero RTIC oversight, and the one meeting that touched it has no recording.
- Council’s Private Check-Ins: The three-by-three meetings where council business gets decided before the public sees it.
- Oversight Theater: Thirty-five years of promised police oversight in Asheville, and the powerless versions delivered every time.
Next: The System (what was approved) · Act (what to do about it)