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Knoxville Police Department | |
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Abbreviation | KPD |
Jurisdictional structure | |
Operations jurisdiction | Knoxville, Tennessee, United States |
Legal jurisdiction | Knoxville, Tennessee |
General nature | |
Operational structure | |
Headquarters | 800 Howard Baker Jr. Ave |
Officers | 384 |
Elected officer responsible |
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Agency executive |
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Divisions | 4
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Facilities | |
Districts | 3
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Website | |
www |
The Knoxville Police Department is the law enforcement agency of the City of Knoxville, Tennessee, United States.
Knoxville was settled in the late 18th century, but law enforcement and criminal justice were handled by Knox County in its earliest years. By the early 1800s, Knoxville began to establish its own municipal government services, and Joseph R. Reed was named Town Sergeant in 1802. He was paid $80 per year, and his responsibilities included patrolling the town two nights per week and enforcing the observance of the Sabbath. For the next half a century, policing in Knoxville was informal and often the responsibility of one paid employee and some unpaid night watchmen. [1]
In 1857, M. V. Bridwell was named the first chief of police, and paid watchmen (discreetly appointed men referred to as "secret police") were first utilized in 1867. In 1885, a three-man board of public works was created in Knoxville to give more structured oversight to police officers and other city employees. [1]
In 1901, Knoxville officers accosted Harvey Logan (also known as Kid Curry), an outlaw and a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch who had been suspected in the deaths of several other law enforcement officials. [2] Officers William Dinwiddie and Robert Saylor were wounded in the ensuing shootout. Logan was arrested for the shootings, but he escaped from jail; he fatally shot himself in 1904 while being pursued by a posse. Dinwiddie and Saylor both died in 1914, and both of their deaths were attributed to complications of the 1901 shooting. [3] [2]
As of 2023, the Chief of Police is Paul Noel. The department has three bureaus, the Field Operations Bureau contains the majority of the uniformed members, the Investigation Bureau Division is responsible for all criminal and felony investigations within the department and the Management Services Division oversees human resources, financial, and legal aspects of the department. The Support Services Division oversees all programs and educational and training aspects of the department, as well as volunteer programs. [4]
The Knoxville Police Department has been accused of using excessive force on multiple occasions.
On February 5, 2023, 60 year old Lisa Edwards was arrested at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center after hospital staff reported her to police for not leaving the hospital premises after being discharged. When officers arrived Edwards told them that she could not breathe or walk. The officers did not attempt to verify her claims, but yelled at her and told her she was fine. She was placed in the back of a police cruiser and lost consciousness on the way to jail. Edwards was returned to the hospital where she died the next day. As a result of their conduct during the incident, one officer was demoted and two were temporarily suspended without pay. [5] [6] [7]
On November 26, 2018, Sierra McCauley, 23 years old, was killed by KPD Officer James Gadd on November 26. McCauley was naked and holding a knife when Officer Gadd arrived on scene. He gave 10 verbal commands in 22 seconds before fatally shooting her. The shooting was ruled justified. Officer Gadd is a 23-year KPD veteran. [8] McCauley's death was cited by Knox County Democratic Party Progressive Action Committee as evidence of "racial bias, excessive use of force, and/or insufficient mental health crisis intervention training of the officers involved." [9]
On August 26, 2019, Channara Tom "Philly" Pheap was suspected of a hit and run. According to eyewitnesses, he was shot twice in the back by KPD Officer Dylan M. Williams. There is no camera footage of the shooting, though dash camera footage of some of the lead up is available. [10] Pheap's death was also cited in the Knox County Democratic Party Progressive Action Committee report. A Federal wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by Pheap's family seeking $5M in damages. [11]
In July 2014 Ron Carden was shot in the back by Knoxville Police Department Officer David Gerlach. The shooting happened just off to the side of the view of the cruiser mounted camera. According to local Knoxville USA Today affiliate KnoxNews "Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan ruled Tuesday attorney Richard M. Brooks failed – after nearly three years of litigation and a day’s worth of trial testimony in U.S. District Court – to present enough evidence to allow the jury to even consider whether Knoxville Police Department Officer David Gerlach had the legal right to use deadly force against parolee Ronald E. Carden." [12] [13]
Harvey Alexander Logan, also known as Kid Curry, was an American outlaw and gunman who rode with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's infamous Wild Bunch gang during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite being less well-known than his fellow gang members, he has since been referred to as "the wildest of the Wild Bunch", having reputedly killed at least nine law enforcement officers in five shootings and another two men in other instances. He was involved in numerous shootouts with police and civilians and participated in several bank and train robberies with various gangs during his outlaw days.
The Pasadena Police Department is the police department serving Pasadena, California. The headquarters of the Pasadena Police Department is located at 207 North Garfield Avenue in Pasadena, just a block from the Pasadena City Hall and Paseo Colorado. The department employs 241 sworn officers, 13 reserve officers, and 126 civilian employees. Police chief John Perez, who spent his entire career with the department, retired and was replaced by former PPD Commander, now interim Chief Jason Clawson. The city has selected former San Gabriel Police Department Chief Eugene Harris to take the position in January 2023.
The Cambridge Police Department is the municipal police department for the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. Formally organized in 1859. with the appointment of John C. Willey as the first chief of police, the Cambridge Police Department was then staffed by only 16 officers. The Cambridge Police Department moved its headquarters location on December 8, 2008. The police department is now located in the Robert W. Healy Public Safety Facility at 125 Sixth Street in the neighborhood of East Cambridge, leaving their Central Square location after 135 years.
The Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) is the principal law enforcement agency serving Kansas City, Missouri. Jackson County 16th Circuit Court Circuit Court Judge Jen Phillips swore in Stacey Graves as the 46th chief of police of the KCPD on December 15, 2022. Graves, who served as head of the KCPD's Deputy Chief of the Patrol Bureau, became the city's 46th police chief on December 15, 2022.
On November 22, 2014, Tamir E. Rice, a twelve year old African-American boy, was killed in Cleveland, Ohio, by Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year-old white patrolman with the Cleveland Division of Police (CDP). Rice was carrying a replica toy gun; Loehmann shot him almost immediately upon arriving on the scene. Loehmann and his partner, 46-year-old Frank Garmback, had been responding to a dispatch call regarding a male who had a gun. A caller reported that a male was pointing "a pistol" at random people at the Cudell Recreation Center, a park in Cleveland's Public Works Department. The caller twice told to the dispatcher that the pistol was "probably fake", and also stated that the male was "probably a juvenile", but the dispatcher did not relay either of these statements to Loehmann and Garmback.
Rekia Boyd was a 22-year-old Black American woman who was fatally shot in Chicago, Illinois by Dante Servin, an off-duty Hispanic Chicago police detective, on March 21, 2012.
On July 5, 2016, Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was shot and killed by two Baton Rouge Police Department officers, Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The officers, who were attempting to control Sterling's arms, shot Sterling to death, which was preceded by Salamoni threatening Sterling with his gun before Sterling was restrained, yelling that he would "shoot [Sterling] in the fucking head" if he moved. Police alleged that Sterling had reached for the loaded handgun in his pants pocket. Police were responding to a report that Sterling was selling CDs and that he had used a gun to threaten a man outside a convenience store. The owner of the store where the shooting occurred said that Sterling was "not the one causing trouble" during the situation that led to the police being called. The shooting was recorded by multiple bystanders.
The killing of Korryn Gaines occurred on August 1, 2016, in Randallstown, Maryland, near Baltimore, resulting in the death of Gaines, a 23-year-old woman, and the shooting of her son, who survived. According to the Baltimore County Police Department, officers sought to serve Gaines a warrant in relation to an earlier traffic violation. She had refused to vacate her vehicle or show her driver's license, and resisted arrest. Immediately after the first officer entered her home to serve the warrant, Gaines pointed a shotgun at him, prompting him to withdraw without shots being fired. The Baltimore County SWAT team responded and a standoff began. She recorded and live streamed to Facebook where Gaines's friends told her to "continue on". She is seen to have told her son that "the police are coming to kill us". Upon her refusal to let them in, police got a key from the rental office but found the chain lock blocked their entry. An officer then kicked in the door. Police say Gaines pointed a shotgun at an officer, telling him to leave.
On July 28, 2016, 18-year-old Paul O'Neal was shot in the back by Chicago Police Department officers following a grand theft auto chase. O'Neal had struck two police cars, a parked car, while operating a stolen Jaguar. Police say that O'Neal, who was unarmed, fled from the vehicle after the chase and refused to stop. The shooting was classified by the medical examiner as a homicide. The three officers who discharged their weapons were removed from duty following a preliminary investigation. Following an investigation, no criminal charges were brought against the officers involved.
On April 29, 2017, Jordan Edwards, a 15-year-old African-American boy, was murdered by police officer Roy Oliver in Balch Springs, Texas, within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Edwards was shot in the back of the head while riding in the front passenger's seat of a vehicle driving away from officers that attempted to stop it. He was unarmed during the encounter.