ASHEVILLE - In her early 20s, Asheville Police Chief Jackie Stepp worked as the manager of an Atlanta Bread Company. She liked working in the service industry, but she'd had her eye on a different kind of public service job since she was in elementary school
"I've wanted to be in law enforcement since I was a very, very small child," Stepp said. "I don't recall what exactly gave me that drive, but I know my neighbor worked in law enforcement, and I used to really just be mesmerized by his car coming and going to and from work."
Stepp advanced over two decades to become Asheville chief
When she turned 25, she started Basic Law Enforcement Training, and from there she was hired at the Asheville Police Department.
The APD was the only department Stepp, now 46, had ever wanted to work at, and since then she
has risen through the ranks, shattering gender barriers while operating at high levels within the department.
Stepp was named the department's first female deputy chief in October 2023, overseeing the Administrative Bureau. She was named interim chief in November 2025 followingformer Chief Mike Lamb's retirement.
On Sept. 24, Stepp was named the city's permanent police chief at a salary of $195,324. She is only the second female police chief in the department's history.
Stepp said the gender-related milestone is not one she thinks about often.
"I'm so excited to continue to serve and just truly honored for the opportunity to be police chief at the Asheville Police Department," Stepp said. "I try to mentor everybody at the police department, men and women alike. I want to be a role model for all."
Taking charge at Asheville Police Department in 'unprecedented' year
Stepp's promotion comes during an "unprecedented" year for the Asheville Police Department. There have been four police shootings this year. Last year, there was only one, and that incident didn't take place in Asheville, but involved an APD officer who was operating as part of a task force in another county.
Stepp attributed the increase in police shootings to situations where officers are encountering people who are armed and uncooperative.
"It really puts us in a situation where we have to take immediate action," she said.
There have also been two mass shootings in Asheville this year.
In March, seven people were struck by gunfire in downtown Asheville on North Lexington Avenue. An eighth person was injured while trying to flee, and another was physically assaulted, resulting in a concussion, Capt. Joe Silberman said at the time.
On July 19, a drive-by shooting on Biltmore Avenue in Asheville injured seven and killed two. Lamarius Jones, 22, along with his best friend, Marques Davis Jr., 24, died. No arrest has been made; Stepp said it is still an active investigation.
Stepp faces challenge in recruitment, retention of officers
In addition, the police department has more than 40 vacancies. Including officers out on leave, the department is operating at a 25% deficit, Stepp said.Recruitment and retention is the most significant issue the police department faces today, and it could be three years before the department is fully staffed, Stepp said.
"Burnout is a reality here at the Asheville Police Department. It has been for a number of years, but the men and women here continue to show up and be professional every day," Stepp said.
The department has launched internal programs to address its retention issue, including a program that allows lateral hires to start at a rate of pay related to his or her experience in law enforcement.
"We will continue to strengthen and build on those programs, as well as just really get out in the community and try to recruit," Stepp said.
Questions of use of technology and data for surveillance
The Asheville Police Department also has faced controversy regarding the city's use of Flock Safety cameras and a separate contract related to a real-time intelligence center the department is establishing.
In May, despite hours of public pushback, the Asheville City Council voted to accept federal funding for the center, which will be based at police headquarters in downtown Asheville. It intelligence center will use Axon Fusus software to connect public and private cameras to the police network and aggregate that data at the department's intelligence center, the Citizen Times previously reported.
On Aug. 25, the Asheville City Council voted to end its contract with Flock Safety.
Four Flock cameras on city property have been covered up. Stepp said that the police department doesn't have the ability to cover up the cameras not on city property because there are agreements between Flock Safety and private property owners. City officials may not remove Flock cameras, according to Stepp. Rather, someone with Flock has to take them down.
Stepp said she could not provide a timeline for the removal of the cameras, but she said that the system is turned off.
"Even the ones that are not covered are not active," she said.
Despite Asheville's termination of its contract with Flock, there are at least 70 other Flock cameras throughout Buncombe County.
"What the Flock camera did was provide us real-time information to locate vehicles that had been involved in crime," Stepp said.
The Axon camera system is a viable replacement for the Flock system, she said.
Flock Safety is a nationwide shared network,that allows agencies from across the country to access footage in other jurisdictions, while Axon's system allows departments to share with each other individually without that broader access, Stepp said.
"We will not roll anything out in this community without extensive community engagement, and those two companies are very different in how they work," Stepp said.
New Asheville chief has vision of officers engaging with neighbors, businesses
Stepp said her top priorities right now are continuing to build trust in the community and across the organization.
"Providing consistency and stability is an absolute priority for me, not only internally, but for the community," she said. "I hope you don't just see a police car drive by, but that you might see officers out on foot patrol or bike patrol, and not just walking, but engaging with residents and business owners, trying to problem solve together."
Asheville's violent crime statistics are down, according to numbers the department recently presented to the Asheville City Council's Public Safety Committee. In fact, the city is 33% below its four year historical average for violent crime, which is the lowest level in over five years.
Stepp said that the Asheville Police Department launched a gun violence task force in 2020 that has been strengthened in the past year, and the department has also partnered with Housing Authority of the city of Asheville CEO Ella Santos, who has agreed to allow the housing authority to pay police officer overtime.
The department launched a housing team this year, and officers are patrolling crime hot spots, or areas where data shows more crime occurs, to try to deter criminal activity.
The department is also partnering with the Department of Juvenile Justice to "strategize how we can be better partners when it comes to juveniles and violence," Stepp said.
"I'm just mostly proud of the men and women who show up to work every day with courage, with professionalism, with a positive attitude, despite the challenges we face," Stepp said.
Kara Fohner is the Public Safety Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email her at kfohner@usatodayco.com or call her at 980-241-8671.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville's new police chief takes helm in 'unprecedented' year
