KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knoxville Police Department on Monday announced major changes to its organizational structure after it promoted nearly two dozen officers.
KPD has two new deputy chiefs: Susan Coker and David Powell. Coker is a 26-year veteran of the force who most recently served as a patrol captain over the East District, and Powell is a 24-year veteran who has spent the past 10 months as the acting deputy chief in the Management Services Division.
“I had a lot of options to fill our two vacant deputy chief positions, and I went into that process with an open mind,” Noel said. “As I evaluated our organization over the past three months, it became apparent that there were many outstanding and talented leaders within this department. Susan and David are two of those individuals. Both are greatly respected by their colleagues and have a track record of leading with integrity. I have no doubt that they will help push our organization forward.”
Chief Paul Noel also promoted four lieutenants -- Nevin Long, Ryan Morrow, Sammy Shaffer and Steve Still -- to captain, and they will join KPD's command staff.
“I am ecstatic to bring Nevin, Ryan, Sammy and Steve into the fold as members of the command staff,” Noel said. “They bring a wide and diverse range of collective experience, and all four have proven that they are entirely committed to our mission as a department. I am confident that they will add significant value as members of my command staff.”
On top of that, six officers were promoted to the rank of lieutenant and eight were promoted to sergeant.
During the promotion ceremony, Noel also announced several big changes to the department's organizational structure. The most significant: the re-establishment of the Central District, which will increase the number of police districts in Knoxville to three. The Central District will include Downtown Knoxville, the area surrounding the University of Tennessee Campus and South Knoxville.
“This isn’t change for the sake of change. There is real purpose and intentionality behind this,” Chief Noel said. “Adding a third district allows our officers to reduce their area of focus, more narrowly direct their efforts, be more proactive and directly engage with the community on a day-to-day basis to solve the specific public safety problems that impact each area of town.”
Noel said some previously centralized units will now be divided up among the individual districts, including the Traffic Services Unity. The Community Outreach Units will shift into expanded roles as Community Partnership Officers, and those officers will be assigned to different districts to help address problems, and quality of life issues and enable community meetings.
“I want to empower our district commanders and give them the resources that they need to solve problems within their district, and this change will facilitate that,” Noel said. “Whether it is a business that is experiencing an ongoing problem, a traffic complaint or specific concerns from neighborhood residents, our district commanders will have the personnel that they need to solve those problems as they arise.”
Noel said Mark Fortner will remain second-in-command at KPD as the assistant chief.
The newly promoted command staff officers have been assigned to lead KPD's various bureaus effective immediately. The newly-promoted sergeants and lieutenants will step into their new roles and assignments on October 23.
“This has been in the works since my first day here, and I am thrilled to launch this reorganization with our senior leadership team in place,” Chief Noel said. “These changes have been made very deliberately with the purpose of enhancing our operations, re-imagining how we deliver our services and allowing us to be more effective in our primary mission of reducing crime and solving problems in neighborhoods.”