Asheville police utilize drones in crackdown on homeless-related crimes

By KIMBERLY KING

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Asheville police teams used drones in their fourth special operation focused on crimes ranging from panhandling to trespassing involving unhoused individuals amid pressure from the community to address downtown crime and homelessness.

On Friday morning, Asheville police officers initially responded to an overdose call at an encampment off Interstate 240 and Haywood Road behind the Haywood Street Congregation. A homeless camp with at least four tents has been visible on a hill along an embankment for at least three weeks.

News 13 saw a medical team escort a man from the camp. An eyewitness told News 13 the man had overdosed. The man was able to walk away and got in with the medical team for further medical treatment.

Blocks away, on Ann Street across from the AHOPE Day Center, where homeless men and women pick up their mail, another team of police talked with a woman who was sitting on the sidewalk and refused to give her identification. After 10 minutes, officers placed her in handcuffs and escorted her away.

Jacob Therrien and Charlotte Fleming, both homeless, watched the scene unfold along I-240. They embraced one another and then shared their thoughts on the crime roundup focused on the homeless population across the city.

“Using that Narcan (to revive them), they’re going to keep doing it because they know they can be Narcanned and brought back,” Fleming said.

Fleming thinks more advocacy about drug treatment needs to happen.

“Running around sweeping up people, throwing people in jail, it’s not helpful,” said Therrien, who is living in a vehicle.

APD Chief David Zack has told Asheville City Council members that police are responding to outcry from the community, including business owners who want the homeless population that is panhandling, using drugs and camping to be held accountable and cited.

The city has taken a hit — 2023 tourism numbers are down 11% with national coverage, including on Fox News, about Asheville’s homeless and crime problems downtown.

“I was on the interstate panhandling, or as they say begging for money,” said Monica Baker, who was cited Friday in West Asheville at the I-26 exit off Haywood Road. “I don’t understand why they give you a fine when it’s begging for money to start with.”

“Right now, the city is not spending its money in a way, their taxpayer dollars aren’t going to end the problem of encampments,” said Eric Tars, legal director of the National Homelessness Law Center. “They are prolonging the problem of encampments because they’re giving people tickets and fines they can’t pay.”

Tars said cities like Asheville are bearing the brunt of a homeless crisis that should be addressed by the federal government.

“City leaders are getting the blame for what’s really a federal problem. Homelessness started when the federal HUD budget was cut in half,” Tars said. “And now we’re facing the consequences of that. It’s the local leaders getting blamed for the lack of federal leadership.”

An APD spokesperson said the department has received positive feedback from local businesses but there’s clearly still controversy around sweeps like Friday’s while other departments are using outreach teams that discourage arresting the homeless in favor of support and mentorship to seek help for mental and drug addiction challenges.

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