text size

Asheville Police Officer Demoted

Updated: Tuesday, January 29 2013, 07:11 AM EST

An Asheville Police Officer is no longer on the beat after a scare from her radio sends officers rushing to her home.

It was just days after Christmas when the inaudible transmission came across Officer Oksana Kulakova's radio. Other officers feared she was in trouble. They sent every available car down Sweeten Creek road to her home.

Multiple sources tell News 13 Oksana Kulakova was having a party and someone used her radio.

News 13 obtained the recording of the radio traffic through a public records request as well as Kulakova's personnel record. It shows she was hired in February 2012 and then demoted to the position of telecommunication in January  2013. It doesn't say though that the demotion was due to misconduct.

The City of Asheville and the Asheville Police Department are not allowed to talk about cases involving employees. According to the Asheville Police Department Policy Manual, employees are responsible for their equipment. However, it doesn't specify a required method to keep radios secure. In this case, the radio being insecure caused a lot of cops to hurry down the road and leave their beat to help a fellow officer who actually needed no help at all.

Click here to hear the unedited transmission.

By Russ Bowen
Follow Russ on Twitter @RussBowenNews13