Blog: KPD News & Alerts

KPD Announces Promotion of Four Officers

The Knoxville Police Department announced the promotion of four veteran officers during a promotional ceremony held on Friday afternoon.

Captain Tony Willis, who has served with the KPD since January 1996, was selected for promotion to Deputy Chief, filling the vacancy with the pending departure of Deputy Chief Cindy Gass. Gass is set to retire from the KPD at the end of January, leaving the department after nearly five decades, including 43 years as a sworn officer. Willis most recently served as a Captain within the Field Operations Bureau, commanding the West District.

“Tony is an ardent leader and dedicated public servant,” Chief of Police Paul Noel said. “He has a passion for fighting crime and building meaningful community relationships, and I feel confident that he will work vigorously to tackle the crime impacting the Knoxville community.”

Lieutenant Tracy Hunter was selected for promotion to Captain, joining Chief Noel’s Command Staff. Hunter has been with the KPD since 1999 and most recently served as Field Operations Deputy Chief Gass’s executive officer.

“Tracy is a very thoughtful and experienced officer, and she will bring a lot of value to our Command Staff as we keep working to move our organization forward,” Chief Noel said.

Deputy Chief Willis will serve as the commander of the Field Operations Bureau, while Captain Hunter will take over as the Special Investigations Captain within the Investigations Bureau.

In addition to the two Command Staff promotions, Sergeant Sam Henard was promoted to Lieutenant, while Officer Steve Kaufman was promoted to Sergeant. Henard is a nearly 18-year veteran of the KPD who most recently served as the department’s Personnel Director. Kaufman has been with the KPD since 2002 and was previously assigned to the Community Engagement Response Team.

Lieutenant Henard will be assigned to the Field Operations Bureau’s Central District, while Sergeant Kaufman will be assigned to the West District.

“I am excited for all four of these officers and look forward to seeing each of them grow into these new supervisory roles,” Chief Noel said. “I have high expectations for the supervisors within our organization. It’s their job to lead our efforts to fight crime in partnership with the community and improve the culture of our department.

“I have no doubt that each of these officers will rise to that challenge,” Noel added.

The promotions will take effect on Sunday, January 29.

Posted by serland On 27 January, 2023 at 4:36 PM