Crime-troubled NC tourist town pays $75 an hour to county sheriff's deputies to help back up city cops

A North Carolina tourist town plagued by rising crime is resorting to hiring off-duty county sheriff's deputies at an overtime hourly rate to help city police patrol the downtown district.

A team of six deputies with the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office in western North Carolina are being paid $75 per hour to help their counterparts in the staff-strapped Asheville Police Department (APD) on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., according to a document reported by local outlet Asheville Watchdog.

The document revealed details of a new pilot program the City of Asheville rolled out earlier this month to collaborate with county police to combat crime in the small city, which has seen aggravated assaults rise by 21.8% and armed robberies by 20% from 2021 to 2022, according to APD statistics.

Only two officers had been patrolling the entire downtown amid the crime surge, according to local ABC affiliate WLOS.

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