Dear John,

You’ve often heard me use the phrase, “Public safety is job #1.” Today I want to share my vision and priorities for a thoughtful, comprehensive, 21st Century approach to public safety for Knoxville.

Let’s start with police accountability. In order to build trust between KPD and the communities they serve & protect, we must hold police officers accountable for their actions. Therefore, one of my first acts as Mayor was to equip all KPD officers with body-worn cameras. Accountability requires high expectations and performance, which, in turn, deserves fair compensation. I approved significant raises to bring police salaries up to fair market levels. Accountability requires compassion. We are working to ensure our officers better reflect the diversity of our city, with updated recruitment efforts, and new efforts to engage local high school students to consider law enforcement careers.

Accountability requires strong leadership. In 2022 I conducted a national search and hired Paul Noel as our new KPD Chief. He has brought a fresh perspective to KPD and is working to make sure we have a healthy culture and the best training. One initiative that I am particularly excited about is ABLE (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement). This is a peer intervention program that has proven very effective at preventing officer mistakes and misconduct. With these positive changes, KPD will be higher performing and more accountable than ever before. In a second term, I will defy national trends and staff our police department up to the full authorized force.

Violence Interruption is a key component to our holistic approach to public safety. All too often, one act of violence begets another. Violence interruption empowers trusted community members to interrupt these cycles of violence via mediation and de-escalation. Under my leadership, we helped launch Turn Up Knox, and are giving them the resources to pay and train staff to do this important street outreach work. In just one year, Turn Up Knox is already stemming the tide of gun violence, making all of Knoxville safer.

In addition, I am so pleased Knoxville has just entered into a violence reduction contract with the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform.  This non-profit institute will work with KPD and community-based organizations to reduce gun violence by identifying high-risk individuals and social networks, communicating directly with them, providing special support and services, and deploying targeted law enforcement sanctions as a last resort.

Co-Responder teams are another critical feature of our comprehensive public safety strategy. Knoxville’s Co-Response program (a partnership with the McNabb Center) pairs a mental health specialist alongside a specially-trained KPD officer in order to respond to mental health emergency calls. The counselor de-escalates the situation, with the goal of diverting people away from jail and connecting them to mental health resources instead. The initial co-response team was so effective, we added three more.

Public safety is not just the job of police officers. It is the community that truly establishes social norms and expectations, that can be eyes on the street, and intervene when something is awry, before it escalates to violence. Recognizing the need for a new, cabinet-level focus on how we approach public safety, I created The Office of Community Safety & Empowerment, led by LaKenya Middlebrook. This first of its kind department leads violence interruption strategies, coordinates safety innovation and collaboration among City Departments, and enhances partnerships with on-the-ground organizations who are working to make Knoxville safer.

While most Knoxville residents, thankfully, do not experience violence first hand, many do suffer medical emergencies, car crashes, and fires. I am proud that our dedicated, professional firefighters, paramedics & rescue teams of the Knoxville Fire Department answer those calls 24/7. I have supported fair compensation for our firefighters and will continue to make sure they have top notch equipment and training in my second term.

Keeping Knoxville safe is an incredibly complex undertaking and my most urgent responsibility as Mayor. I’ve just touched on a few of the strategies that comprise my vision for comprehensive public safety - there will be more to come as we continue this critical and dynamic conversation.

Thank you for your support,

Indya

P.S. - I encourage you to share this message with any friends and/or family who might be interested in my vision and priorities for one of Knoxville’s most critical issues.


DONATE [[link removed]]

Paid for by "Kincannon for Knoxville", Kelly Johnson, Treasurer
Kincannon for Mayor
PO Box 3783
Knoxville, TN 37927
United States
If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe: [link removed] .