KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — About four months ago, Paul Noel left New Orleans and became Knoxville's newest Chief of Police. When he started, he said he had four goals he wanted to focus on while serving the community.
He wanted to work on preventing crime while also developing the careers of people who serve Knoxville. He also said he wanted to improve the culture of the police department and build trust with the community, hoping that more trust could mean a safer community.
"First and foremost, I'm a crimefighter," he said.
When he started though, he also was tasked with finding new officers to fill vacant positions. Around four months ago, KPD saw its highest number of vacant positions since 2008 — down 51 officers. Since then, the problem has grown.
The department now needs to hire 58 officers, and Noel said about 90 will soon be up for retirement.
"If 30 or 40 leave because of retirement or several other reasons; we have not netted that many police officers," he said.
As the department continues posting more job openings, its demographics may not completely reflect Knoxville's demographics. Recently, Noel revealed his 12-member leadership team. Everyone on the team is white.
Knoxville's population is 17% Black, according to the U.S. Census. Only 4% of KPD officers are Black.
"There were two Black candidates for sergeant. They were both promoted. Only two we had. We're on a path now of slowly getting out of this, but we aren't going to get out of this just with the Knoxville Police Department. We need help from the entire community," Noel said.
Reverend Sam Brown, who works with the NAACP, said the organization has supported Noel in his efforts as his police chief. He also said that the culture inside the department had become problematic before Noel took over, disconnecting KPD from the community.
"The culture of KPD became so problematic and really contributed to eroding the trust that the public should always have with their law enforcement agency," he said. "Considering everything that he had when he came into the role, I think he's doing a great job."
He said one major obstacle to recruiting more officers and hiring more diverse people is also the simplest — money. The city used to pay its employees around 10% below their market value. In May, the city council approved a slightly higher assessed value property tax to fund pay increases for city workers.
"A greater investment has to be made in our police department if we are going to recruit diverse, quality officers and then prepare them for leadership in the future," Brown said.
He said he plans to bring in diverse officers with a variety of recruiting strategies. For example, the department will hold three academy classes next year to attract people interested in working for the city. There is also a cadet program meant to involve more younger people in the department from across Knoxville.
Through the cadet program, young people can work within the department starting at 18 years old. They get training on bicycle patrols, parking enforcement, controlling traffic during special events and sobriety checkpoints. Anyone interested in the program can find more information online.