Black Officers in Knoxville Say Discrimination is Rampant 

TheGrio Staff  KNOXVILLE, TN — Discrimination is rampant within the Knoxville Police Department, as evidenced by recent survey responses from nearly all of its Black officers. According to NBC News, an external review of the department conducted in August by 21CP Solutions, a consulting firm focused on improving policing, found that nearly all 15 Black police officers in Knoxville, Tennessee, said they’ve experienced discrimination. None of them believe the department’s promotional process is fair. Paul Noel, the appointed chief of the Knoxville Police Department, who started in his role in June, commissioned the report. It’s based on focus groups and an anonymous poll, to which nearly all the department’s approximately 360 sworn officers and most of its roughly 100 non-sworn employees replied. The audit reveals that only roughly a third of the 15 Black sworn police officers believed they had a voice inside the department or that supervisors were open to their concerns or opinions. Twelve claimed they’d experienced racial discrimination. Black officers were also the least likely to state that there was a clear procedure for de-escalating internal department problems. “If you are a Black officer, you have to work five times harder,” one anonymous Black officer said in...