KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As Chief Paul Noel prepares to lead the Knoxville Police Department, city leaders used a donation to hire a third party to conduct a climate assessment of the department.
They voted unanimously Tuesday to use a $40,250 donation to hire 21CP Solutions to conduct the climate assessment and make recommendations on how it can be improved. They will review the department's policies, procedures, operations and community engagement.
They said they would look into policies surrounding its recruitment, employee safety, community engagement, technology, training, use of force, stops, searches, responses to vulnerable individuals, crowd management and officer misconduct along with many more subject areas.
They will also facilitate strategic planning sessions to build off their assessments. During those sessions, they said they would create an implementation guide to help the department take steps towards improvement.
There will also be listening sessions and focus groups with eh Knoxville community including stakeholders, city leaders and residents.
Leaders said they intended to help Chief Noel set a blueprint for his first 90 days as chief and to support him while the changes are implemented.
The assessment will consist of interviews and focus groups involving personnel across the department, including sworn and non-sworn personnel. They will also conduct an employee survey, according to records.
The assessment will last 90 days, according to a proposal for the assessment.
They said 21CP Solutions helps communities, cities and states deliver safe, effective and just public safety grounded in building trust between members of the community. Many consultants in the organization served on President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and the organization was formed in 2015.
The previously worked with law enforcement in Lincoln, Nebraska and South Bend, Indiana. They said 21CP Solutions would partner with AD Datalytics for data analytics meant to support law enforcement.
