From Staff Reports

A report from consultants commissioned by the City of Asheville, unveiled March 24, offers a path forward for eliminating problems in the Asheville Police Department.

The report said the problems in the APD existed long before William Anderson become the chief, and that they continue to exist after his departure this past Dec. 31.

The APD has an organizational system that is broken almost beyond repair, The Matrix Consulting Group noted in its report.

Among the specifics are the following:

• Managers receive meager training and are transferred constantly.

• Internal communication is poor.

• Staffers do not hold themselves accountable.

• Staffers do not view promotional/special assignments, disciplinary and internal affairs as “fair.” Specifically, the report says staffers believe standards are not applied consistently.

Calling it an “us vs. them” cutlure, Matrix noted that the result is “a lack of trust betweeen line and command staff” as well as “a perception of a lack of effective leadership in the Asheville Police Department.”

Indeed, the report lists shortcomings in almost every aspect of the department’s operations. The APD should dump its policies and procedures manual and start over, selecting a set that can be customized for Asheville, Matrix President Richard Brady said. Specifically, Brady said that set would come from public-safety consulting group LEXIPRO.

The report also said that it is vitally important when developing new policies that the rank-and-file have input.

“A Chief’s Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives from each major function and rank level, should be created and tasked with establising a process to engage employees as a partner in the development of goals,” the report states.

“No longer can you expect a new chief and management team to come in and ... push down a management philosophy,” Brady told City Council on March 24. Council responded with a positive reception to the report.

Implementation of an APD overhaul will be the responsibility of City Manager Gary Jackson, the top city executive that council looks to in such cases. 

Councilman Jan Davis, who chairs council’s Public Safety Committee, emphasized that the report should not be seen as an indictment of APD personnel. “We have a lot of really good people working in the department,” he said. “I would not want them, in any way, to come out of this feeling like they are damaged goods.”

Mayor Esther Manheimer said of the report, “This is a clear path forward. Now it’s our job to execute.”

In a March 28 editiorial, the Asheville Citizen-Times asserted, “It also is time to end the unproductive debate over whether Anderson, the city’s first African-American chief, was an incompetent manager or the victim of a racist conspiracy.

“Even (councilman) Cecil Bothwell, a staunch defender of Anderson, said of the problems, ‘It is cultural... it’s what evolved over time.’”