ASHEVILLE, NC (WLOS) — News 13 met with the Asheville Police Department (APD) on Thursday, August 15, to discuss what to do to prepare for and maintain a safe environment during Visit of former President Donald Trump to Asheville.
Wednesday, August 14, was Trump’s first appearance in downtown Asheville since 2016. His last visit here saw outbreaks of violence between protesters and supporters.
APD said the goal is to avoid that this time and has developed a plan to ensure that happens.
Lt. Russell Crisp said the goal of Wednesday’s event was public safety.
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Before the event, Police Chief Mike Lamb said their plan was to keep supporters and protesters separate to prevent outbreaks of violence.
We had different plans than before. Again, public safety was the number one priority so we can make sure there is a safe place for supporters (and) a safe place for people who may not be supporting the event,” he said.
They also ensured that accessible fire access was available to businesses and anyone waiting in line in the event of a medical emergency.
These were all our goals and I believe we achieved them,” he said.
There were no arrests or clashes during the day.
“A significant number of people exercised their First Amendment rights, but they behaved respectfully and obeyed the law,” he said.
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Crisp said that unlike 2016, everything remained peaceful.
“In 2016, we learned a lot from the events of that event and tried to make changes to ensure that the problems of that time do not recur this time,” he said.
Another element that helped APD was their drone technology.
“It was able to respond to areas where we had reports or information that there might be problems. It allowed us to deploy and allocate resources to those areas and determine whether or not there was a need,” he said.
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The drone could also help monitor participants waiting in line.
All of the city’s departments really came together for a good cause and made this event a success, and it was an all-hands-on-deck situation for everyone,” he said.
Crisp said their next steps will be to sit down and go through what worked, what didn’t work and what can be done to make it even better next time.
Crisp said that given Wednesday’s successful security measures, APD is confident it will be able to host events of this nature again in the future.
