RTIC Funding Vote

How Asheville Mayor and City council ignored the people

In 2024, the City of Asheville staff asked Congressman Chuck Edwards to request federal grants for a Real Time Intelligence Center (RTIC) for the APD. The Council was not informed at the time of the request.

The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department already has a RTIC with Axon, implemented in 2022, that the Asheville Police are able to use.

Our understanding of this technology and its uses have changed greatly since 2024. ICE has ramped up to extreme levels, we have seen this tech used to target individuals getting reproductive care, and more journalism has come out exposing how this technology is abused and how safeguards do not work.

The First Council Approval

On March 26, 2025, Asheville Cit Council approved a federal grant for a police surveillance hub, Kim Roney noting the item bypassed the Environment and Safety Committee and a citizen police advisory body dormant since 2020, and submitting 29 unanswered questions on data privacy/constitutional issues.

The issue proved controversial even back in 2025. Several residents voiced concerns about how the data could be used and who could ultimately access it, leading Council Member Sheneika Smith to make these remarks:

“Whether it’s a major technological advancement or something as small as equipment, I would just appreciate it if we can bring the conversation through committees first so that people can air all of their issues or get their questions answered.

“There are a lot of questions generating about people’s safety, people’s privacy of their identity and how information is shared. I think we just need to have that community forum through a committee before we come here.”

The community forum Smith called for never occurred.¹

The Grant Is Secured

In February 2026, APD was notified that Chuck Edwards’ office had secured the ~$1.14M federal grant. Per Citizen-Times, DOJ said it would publish award conditions, allowable uses, and compliance requirements only after the city accepts the funds.²

The First Vote Attempt

On April 14, 2026 the city council had a regular council meeting where they were set to vote on a resolution accepting the grant funding. They expecting this to be a non-controversial item that just needed a vote. However, over 40 people showed up to speak against this funding, causing the council to pull the vote from the agenda right before the start of the meeting. Many people still spoke during the general comment section expressing their concerns.³

Resolution Deleted from the April 14th Agenda

What Happened Next

The City council and APD, surprised by the amount of public dissent, took steps after the April 14th meeting to secure the vote for the grant.

The APD invited City Council to tour the Buncombe County RTIC and hear their case on why they needed this system

On April 28th the Policy, Finance, and Infrastructure Committee work session was held. During this session, APD Interim Chief Jackie Stepp presents “Fusus & the Real-Time Intelligence Center” slide deck to Council.

Representatives from Axon and Flock were in attendance and assisted Interim Chief Stepp with the presentation.

Notably, public comment is not accepted during committee work sessions, so claims made by APD and the vendors could not be disputed or challenged.

CAMS members published a document after the meeting fact-checking the claims made during the work session.

The Second Council Meeting

On May 12, 2026, City Council met for the budget meeting which included 2 votes on the agenda. 1. To accept the funding for the RTIC. 2. To allow the City Manager to negotiate the Axon contract without another vote from the council. The item was put at the end of the agenda, with people waiting until 10:30 to even begin to speak.

So many people showed up that many who showed up to speak had to wait outside until other agenda items were covered and folks cleared out.

Over 40 people signed up to speak, they were given only 2 minutes for individuals with 10 for those that had 3 individuals that ceded their time. Public comments were only allowed for an hour, leaving 21 people without a chance to speak, when the mayor could have extended the time to let everyone speak.⁴

Things People brought up in Open Comment

One person brought up Axon’s predatory pricing model using their slide decks from Axon’s own site
One individual who hacks as a career talked about the way that the metadata from this technology will be used to create profiles of individuals
A Harvard Law graduate who has worked with the kinds of contracts Axon uses for their technology covered the ways that a $32 billion dollar company like Axon cannot be out-lawyered and how the contract can be changed whenever they want to.
Many others came forward with different arguments and viewpoints, including:
A concern with the way this decision was being pushed through very quickly without community oversight
The use of data by bad actors such as the federal government
Accepting the funding without having seen a final contract

The Vote

None of people’s concerns mattered. When 1 hour was up, the mayor ended open comment, when she could have extended it to let everyone speak. The people there were outraged, causing an uproar, demanding to be heard. In the midst of this uproar, the Mayor called the vote. The vote passed 6-1, with Kim Roney being the dissenting vote. During every other part of the agenda there was discussion back and forth; there was none here. After the vote, Councilwoman Kim Roney gave her presentation of comments from the ACLU and EFF that showed great concern over accepting this contract. She had shared the slide deck prior to the meeting.⁵

The public was not listened to, differing opinions and experts, at least publicly, were not listened to. It seems apparent that their minds were made up before they even entered the chambers.

Video of the May 12th Vote

We the People deserve to be heard, we deserve to have a local government that protects our civil liberties, and we deserve to have representatives that think about the far-reaching, negative impact this decision will have on all of us, and disproportionately on vulnerable communities.

What Now?

Contact City Council and let them know how you feel about this decision
Get involved with local Asheville city elections
Educate your neighbors and friends and let them know why it matters
Print out this information as a zine and share it with others. Or print one already created by the CAMS Team

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