WNC Surveillance Watch.

The Real-Time Intelligence Center

13 min read

Where it stands
Axon contract signed Aug 4, 2026, $6,955,559 of it city money through 2033; Fusus billing starts Dec 1, 2026; private-camera integration solicitation planned for fall 2026; full operation projected spring 2027. Pending: the itemized Axon quote, Policy 1703 with an effective date, the first quarterly audit (about October 2026), the Section 5 review and its reviewer, the community conversation the manager promised before any fixed Axon reader.
The systems
  • Axon, the contract. City of Asheville Contract 92700065, Aug 1, 2026 to Dec 31, 2033, $7,423,161.15, of which $467,602.15 is the DOJ-funded Fusus line. Bundles body cameras, tasers, drones, interview-room recording and cloud storage, and adds Fusus. Posted by the city in August 2026; the quote it references is not.The Axon contract, as signed · What Axon Contracts Do
  • Fusus, the platform. The software that joins body cameras, in-car and fixed plate readers, drones and integrated private cameras on one screen. Governed by APD Policy 1703, four pages, released in draft Aug 20, 2026, effective date blank, not yet published by the city.The RTIC Policy · What Is the RTIC?
  • Plate readers. Axon in-car readers since April 2024: 139 active and 835,194 plate reads retained over 21 days on Sept 23, 2026, per the city's Axon portal; no published count of who can search them. The chief's Aug 14, 2026 memo plans Axon plate-reader infrastructure operational by February 2027, and the contract lists Axon's fixed reader, Lightpost, in APD's inventory; none is active, and the barrier is the city manager's verbal assurance of Aug 25, 2026. The 11 Flock cameras: contract terminated Aug 25, removal and deletion unconfirmed.Getting Flock Out · Promise Tracker
  • The county network. About 2,000 Fusus cameras run by the Sheriff's Office, which APD has reached since a December 2022 MOU. The chief's Aug 14, 2026 memo says APD is evaluating consolidating the county RTIC into the city's; the workgroup notes call the goal a regional RTIC under a city-county MOU.Buncombe County · Buncombe County Sheriff's Office Fusus access log, 2024 to 2026

The Real-Time Intelligence Center is the room and the software through which the Asheville Police Department will watch its cameras, plate readers, drones and integrated private cameras in real time, run on Axon’s Fusus platform under a 7.5-year contract the city signed in August 2026. This page is the door to everything this site holds on it: the status, the documents, the money, what the officials who decide have said, what is still pending, and the pages that document each part in full. The plain-language explainer is What Is the RTIC; the position this site takes is on the homepage.

The documents

DocumentDateWhereWhat it settles
Sourcewell contract 101223-AXN with Axon’s Master Services and Purchasing Agreement, version 19.0 (posted by the city as Exhibit B, 104 pages)Feb 2024the city page and SourcewellNon-cancelable payments, five-year auto-renewal, termination for breach or non-appropriation only; Axon’s access to agency content and usage data; enrollment by default in Axon’s data program. What Axon Contracts Do · the data terms, quoted.
FUSUS AppendixAxon signed July 9, 2024the city pageProduct tiers (150 to 4,500 end points; 0 to 4,500 video streams) and Axon’s data-processing sentence.
APD’s March 2026 committee slidesMarch 2026the city pageThe earmark began when “APD was invited to complete a questionnaire provided by Rep. Edwards’ office” in 2024; the city manager’s office authorized the response May 22, 2024. Chuck Edwards.
Resolutions 26-97, 26-98, 26-99 and Ordinance 5222May 12, 2026DocumentsThe civil-liberties resolution, the DOJ grant, the $1,141,255.56 budget amendment, the contract authorization. 2026-05-12 City Council.
RTIC Stakeholder Policy Workgroup notesJune 11 to July 23, 2026same releaseWho wrote the policy, the regional goal, the fall 2026 integration plan, the spring 2027 opening. The RTIC Policy.
APD Policy 1703, Real Time Intelligence Centerfour drafts, June 25 to July 9, 2026; effective date blankreleased Aug 20, 2026 via records request; not on the city pageFacial recognition ban for RTIC personnel; quarterly random review of access logs to the chief; the sharing clause copied from the county. The RTIC Policy.
City of Asheville Contract 92700065 with Axon Enterprisemade Aug 1, 2026; chief signed July 27, city manager Aug 4the city’s Technology and Public Safety page, two filesThe term, the payment schedule, the termination clauses, the Fusus carve-out, the scope. Read on the contract, as signed.
Interim Chief Stepp’s memo to councilAug 14, 2026the city page and the Aug 25 packet”APD is not pursuing a full transition away from Flock”; Axon readers operational by February 2027; searchers 18 to 12; retention 30 to 21 days. Jackie Stepp.
The city attorney’s constitutionality memoAug 24, 2026The Constitutionality MemoWhat the city’s lawyers told council the night before the Flock vote.
Resolution 26-180Aug 25, 2026DocumentsFlock termination; a ten-item review by the manager, no date. 2026-08-25 City Council.
Axon quote Q-808220-46198ASreferenced in Exhibit Anot postedProducts, quantities, unit prices, the Fusus tier. Requested.
The Axon and Flock transparency portalsliveAxon · FlockRetention, device counts, hotlist categories (Axon); an overview paragraph only (Flock, Sept 23, 2026).

The city’s page itself, statement by statement beside the record: the city’s Technology and Public Safety page, annotated.

The money

The contract totals $7,423,161.15 from Aug 1, 2026 to Dec 31, 2033. The federal earmark pays $467,602.15 of it, the Fusus subscription; the other $6,955,559 is city money, rising about 5 percent a year from $740,000 in year one to $947,211 in year six. Most of that buys equipment APD already had, bundled from its existing Axon agreements. Before the RTIC the city paid the county $30,000 a year for Fusus access. The documented savings in the staff report total $223,022.48; the chief told council “over 4 million.” The year-by-year schedule and its clauses are on the contract, as signed; the grant, the city’s share, and the savings figures worked through are on the federal grant and the city’s share of the contract. Where the county’s money comes from, and the downtown institutions that asked for the center: Follow the Money.

The city’s answers, checked against its documents

The city’s page and its officials’ statements, each set beside the documents the city itself posted or released:

  • The plate-reader safeguards on the city page (12 officers, case numbers, quarterly audits) are the Flock program’s, from the chief’s Aug 14 memo on Flock. The Axon readers in use have no published user count, audit, or sharing rule (which plate readers the answers describe).
  • The private-camera answer reproduces the Level 1 text of Connect Asheville, the Axon-built registration site, and stops before Level 2, where an owner buys a device that gives APD “direct access to your camera feed” (wording the page shares with Axon and Flock).
  • “Axon neither has access to the Fusus or to the system, or retains data” (the chief, May 12). The master agreement the city posted lets Axon access agency content for troubleshooting and enforcement, use usage data to develop “current and future Axon products,” and enrolls every agency by default in a program that uses agency content to build products (the terms, quoted).
  • “Explicit, unalterable boundaries” (the city page, on Policy 1703). The policy is the chief’s to revise without a council vote; two limits were removed between drafts (The RTIC Policy).
  • “Comprehensive quarterly audits” (the city page). The policy routes the review to the chief with no duty to publish; the city refused the Flock audit log in 2025; none has been published (Promise Tracker, rows 4 and 8).
  • “A grant that would help save the city money” (the mayor, May 28). The city’s share of the contract is $6,955,559 (the grant and the contract).
  • No fixed Axon readers (the mayor and the city manager, Aug 25). The contract names Lightpost in APD’s inventory, and the chief’s Aug 14 memo plans Axon plate-reader infrastructure by February 2027 (Lightpost).

Who decides, in their words

Each line is dated and links to the page that holds the full record and the source. Council authorized the contract 6 to 1 on May 12, 2026 and terminated the Flock contract 5 to 2 on Aug 25, 2026; four of the six yes votes of May 12 are on the November 3, 2026 ballot (Election 2026).

  • Esther Manheimer, mayor, on the ballot. May 28, 2026, on cost: “we received a grant from the federal government to be able to pay for our own.” Aug 25, 2026, on fixed Axon readers: “We have a contract where Axon will provide them if we tell them we want them.” On the vendors: “Axon has what’s called a closed system or what I’m calling a closed system.” Declining to second a moratorium on new plate readers the same night: “I’ve got enough faith in the manager to do what we just talked about.”
  • Kim Roney, council member, running for mayor; the only no on every camera vote since 2023. Aug 20, 2026: “if we cancel the Flock contract and replace [it] with Axon’s same functioning equipment, then we still have a violation of our constitutional rights problem.” Her moratorium motion on new plate readers that night failed for lack of a second. Her 29 written questions of March 2025 have no published answers.
  • Bo Hess, council member, chair of the Public Safety Committee, not on the ballot until 2028. March 25, 2025, on the first RTIC grant: the center “already exists” and the money buys “basic infrastructure like desk, chairs, workstations.” Aug 20, 2026: “RTIC is a real-time, emergency-activated system… This is not general surveillance.” Aug 25, 2026: “ending one [vendor’s] contract is not the same as rejecting responsible technology.” His committee has received no RTIC audit or post-approval briefing across seven recorded meetings (The Committee).
  • Sage Turner, council member, not on the ballot until 2028. Aug 20, 2026, on Axon’s plate readers: “maybe that’s a part of the contract we wish wasn’t there.” Her May 12 yes was conditioned on the Flock cameras coming down; on Aug 17 she wrote that they remained up (Promise Tracker, row 11).
  • Maggie Ullman, council member, on the ballot; seconded both May 12 motions. Aug 20, 2026, on ending the Axon contract: “I can’t fathom pulling back on our transparency tools.” Aug 25, 2026, to the manager: “have we signed a contract with [Axon] for [ALPRs]?” The mayor answered that the contract provides them on request, with none installed. Sept 16, 2026: “unchecked surveillance that is networked nationally to companies we don’t know is very concerning.”
  • Antanette Mosley, vice mayor, on the ballot; voted no on the Flock termination. Aug 25, 2026, on the termination with the Axon contract standing: “what we’re attempting to do quite frankly is a bait and switch, and I think we’re not giving our citizens credit for seeing that.” Sept 16, 2026: “I happen to not believe that we have to choose between public safety and civil liberties. I think we can do both.”
  • Sheneika Smith, council member, on the ballot; voted no on the Flock termination. March 25, 2025: suggested a community forum on the center; none has been held.
  • D.K. Wesley, city manager, signed the contract Aug 4, 2026. May 7, 2026, five days before the vote, on the contract: it “does not exist yet.” Aug 25, 2026, on fixed Axon readers: “we will not put those up until that community conversation happens.” She runs the ten-item review ordered Aug 25 and names the permanent chief.
  • Jackie Stepp, interim chief, signed as department director July 27, 2026. May 12, 2026: “Trust will not be assumed. It will be demonstrated.” The same night, on the vendor: “Axon neither has access to the Fusus or to the system, or retains data.” Aug 14, 2026, in her memo to council: APD is “expanding and integrating Axon’s ALPR capabilities.” To the policy workgroup, June 11, 2026: the DOJ grant contains “standard language that local law enforcement will cooperate with federal law enforcement investigations.”
  • Quentin Miller, sheriff, on the ballot, runs the county network the city’s center connects to. To the workgroup, per APD’s notes: the RTIC is “a tool used only when requested,” and audits “serve internal purposes rather than the public directly.” His challenger Gary Parris pledged in February 2026 a “Unified Operations Intelligence Center to share actionable intelligence with all agencies.”
  • The council candidates. Jeffrey Burroughs, May 14, 2026: “If I had been on council, I would have voted no.” Drew Ball, Sept 16, 2026: “We need to make sure we control our data so it’s not fed to a national network. We need closed loop systems that we control.” Keith Young, Sept 16, 2026: “Can we use this system to make our public safety system stronger? Yes, but should it be the one that they agreed upon? Probably not.”
  • Chuck Edwards, U.S. representative through January 2027, signed the earmark request May 22, 2024. No statement on the center since the April 2026 debate has been found.

Every statement made for the center, quoted with its source and set beside the dated facts: Asheville’s RTIC claims and the record. The commitments, each tracked: Promise Tracker.

Next meeting and how to comment

Date
Thursday, Sept 24
Time
1:00 PM
Body
Asheville City Council Public Safety Committee
Place
Remote meeting (virtual, per NC Gen. Stat. 166A-19.24(f)); livestream on Engagement Hub or the City's YouTube Channel, call-in (855) 925-2801 code 11543
How to comment
Live call-in comments during the public comment period: (855) 925-2801, code 11543, then press * and select option 3. Pre-recorded voicemail comments accepted at the same number/code until 5:00 p.m. the day before the meeting. Written comments to publicsafetycommittee@PublicInput.com, also closing 5:00 p.m. the day before.
Status
Held; the account.

The Sept 24, 2026 committee agenda carries no RTIC or audit item; public comment runs 30 minutes, three minutes per person. Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 5 PM. Written comment to avl-city-council@publicinput.com enters the record. The asks, by addressee, with a document behind each: Asking About the RTIC. Procedure: Speak at Council.

What is pending, dated

  • The itemized Axon quote, with the Fusus tier and quantities. Not posted as of Sept 24, 2026; asked for by Roney on Aug 25; requested by a resident Aug 17 and not provided, as the requester told the Sept 24 committee.
  • Policy 1703 in final form with an effective date. Not posted as of Sept 24, 2026; the city page says it will be published.
  • The first quarterly audit under Policy 1703, section 4.D. Window closes about October 2026; the policy routes it to the chief, with no publication duty.
  • The ten-item review and the independent civil-liberties reviewer ordered by Resolution 26-180, Section 5. No schedule or name as of Sept 24, 2026; a caller asked the Sept 24 committee to take it up, and no member responded.
  • The community conversation the manager said precedes any fixed Axon reader. No date as of Sept 24, 2026; the city page anticipates engagement “in late 2026 or early 2027.”
  • The separate contract for 20 Axon Fleet in-car readers, in signature in July 2026. Not posted; never presented to council.
  • Axon’s written confirmation of the ACEIP opt-out. Not posted; the opt-out rests on a July 16, 2026 email (The RTIC Policy).
  • The Flock cameras down, Flock’s written deletion confirmation, and the Section 3 notice to council. None recorded as of Sept 24, 2026 (Getting Flock Out).
  • The “Lightpost” line in the contract’s scope of work, and the Aug 14 memo’s plan for Axon plate-reader infrastructure by February 2027, against the Aug 25 statements that no fixed Axon readers go up before a community conversation. Unexplained as of Sept 24, 2026.
  • A count of who can search Axon’s plate readers and use Fusus, and a sharing rule for Axon’s readers. None published.
  • Answers to Roney’s 29 questions of March 2025. None published.
  • The permanent police chief, the city manager’s appointment, expected by the end of September 2026.
  • The town halls and listening sessions the chief committed to on May 12, 2026. No dates announced.

Where the rest of the record is

Related: Asheville · Asheville’s officials · Documents · Corrections

Region: Asheville · Last verified: September 24, 2026

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