DEPARTMENT HISTORY
Asheville’s first police force was organized in 1849. They had no radios, no cruisers - not even a weapon. The officers were the only means of fighting crime in the late 1800’s. The first patrol consisted of eight volunteers working under a captain. Officers had to tip the scales at 190 pounds or better since they carried no weapons.
In 1856, a five man patrol headed by a captain was organized with the men working in shifts of three for a $10 annual salary. The town constable became the chief of police a year later, which added another man to the force. In 1858, the town commissioners ordered the patrolmen "to carry or be armed with a walking cane or other reasonable weapon to ensure their safety and self defense." Soon after, the paid patrol was disbanded and groups of local citizens volunteered to keep the peace. Pastors, merchants, lawyers, teachers and farmers toting night sticks as a symbol of law and order made up these early groups. They generally served weekly in groups of eight as night watchmen over the village. 
Unfortunately for citizens, these lawmen were slow in reaching crime scenes. Many times lawbreakers carried on their deeds undisturbed. About four months later, another police department was organized with six men appointed to serve at salaries of $50 per year. As an extra incentive, each arrest resulting in a conviction earned the arresting officer an extra dollar. However, none of these men earned a salary because the force was discharged five months later.
Then, in 1864, the city commissioners appointed another police force because of a crime wave during the closing years of the Civil War. The police department quickly grew to nine men, two of whom were drivers of the horse drawn patrol wagon.
The department began to establish more modern tools around this time. One such convenience was a speaking tube running from the sergeant’s desk to the head of the night driver’s bed. Whenever anyone had to be brought in, the sergeant yelled into the tube to wake up the sleeping driver. Instead of going by the most direct route, the driver had to take the wagon on the easiest, least hilly route. When a citizen called for assistance, the sergeant went to Public Square and blew a police whistle to summon a patrolman.
The Asheville Police Department was formally created by ordinance on November 1, 1875. It was to consist of a chief of police and four patrolmen. The ordinance stated, "On motion it is ordered that four policemen, two to be employed in daytime and two at night, to assist the marshal in executing the town ordinances and that the mayor be allowed to increase the force if in his discretion it becomes necessary." At that same meeting, a list of 31 police regulations was adopted.
The first vehicle the department had was a bicycle purchased in 1906. A newspaper article reported the purchase was met by the public with cries of wasteful use of city funds and bad management of affairs. The opposition was supposedly so strong that the officeholders who had a part in the purchase were defeated in the next municipal election. The first piece of motorized equipment came in 1914 in the form of a motorcycle and side car. Then came a motorized patrol wagon.
The police commission took over the management of the department in 1909. Aldermen controlled the force until the commission form of government was established in 1915. At that time, the police were placed under control of a commissioner of public safety. The first commissioner of public safety also organized an additional plainclothes department.
To further add to the speed and efficiency of the department, a Gamewell Alarm system was installed in 1916. Consisting of a series of loud horns and flashing lights placed on poles about the city, the system could raise a patrolman on any given beat when the desk sergeant pressed the proper button on his desk. The system was discontinued soon and a last attempt to revive it in 1926 failed after a short time.
As soon as it was an established fact that the automobile was here to stay, the police department became equipped with such and various types of armored cars came and went. In 1932, the first police radio was put into use, allowing a police officer to be dispatched. In those days, it was necessary for the dispatcher to repeat the message loudly, slowly and several times as the men in the cars were unable to talk back. Police radio, at first, was a one-way system. In 1938, the first two-way radio system was installed for the department.
In 1934, the department was equipped with the latest weapons for stopping criminals, including short-wave radio equipment and police cruising cars. The cruiser was equipped with a Thompson .45 caliber submachine gun, a regular riot gas gun of the projectile-tear fuming type, and with a short-wave radio receiver for keeping in communication with the central police office. Additionally, the department had a Colt standard tripod machine gun, and the following other weapons: seven sawed-off automatic shotguns, 36 high-powered .30 caliber automatic rifles, three tear gas 10-gauge 'billies' for night patrol use, and a large supply of gas hand grenades.
By the early part of the 20th century, police officers were paid $50 a month and they worked 12 hour days. During these early times the officers had to walk back and forth to their beats. In 1926, the police department was moved from City Hall on the square to the municipal building, which it shares with the fire department. Today, the department is a modern, up-to-date, nationally accredited department offering full police services to all of the citizens of the City of Asheville, as well as to the many visitors who come to the area each year.