The Knoxville City Council approved an expansion of its police surveillance contract weeks after Nashville denied a similar proposal. (Photo: Angela Dennis)
Concerns over privacy and government overreach dominated the conversation in Knoxville on Tuesday as the city council approved a $27.6 million expansion of its police surveillance contract. The vote comes just a month after Nashville rejected a similar proposal, reflecting a growing debate in Tennessee over balancing public safety and civil liberties.
The agreement expands the Knoxville Police Department’s partnership with Axon Enterprises for the next decade. Axon currently supplies KPD with body cameras and taser equipment.
The council approved the contract after more than an hour of discussion among members, police reform advocates, and citizens who expressed concerns about the impact of increased surveillance on Knoxville.
(It’s) absolutely a violation of folks’ civil liberties. This type of policing can absolutely go unpunished and this is our moment as a city to acknowledge the concerns of our community.
– Amelia Parker, Knoxville City Council
Tensions ran high during the meeting, with several community members removed by law enforcement after expressing frustration with the city administration.
Councilmember Amelia Parker, one of the two dissenting votes, argued that surveillance of specific neighborhoods could negatively impact Black members of the community. She also raised awareness of the mistrust that many community members hold against law enforcement, citing the historic and inherent divide between the police and the Black community in Knoxville.
Parker said she’s received several complaints about Knoxville police’s surveillance tactics, which make people feel like “their comings and goings in neighborhoods are already being closely monitored.”
“[It’s] absolutely a violation of folks’ civil liberties,” Parker said. “This type of policing can absolutely go unpunished and this is our moment as a city to acknowledge the concerns of our community.”
Community member Rashad Woods, who leads violence interruption efforts in the city, acknowledged the need to update this city’s technology but believes the surveillance expansion could have larger implications.
“The things we set into motion in the present may have real impact in the future and I don’t think anyone who voted for that resolution thought about that. We can’t police our way out of the situation some of our communities are in. The question is, are we trying to fix the problem or criminalize the people?” he said.
The new proposal includes expanding the agreement to incorporate a records management system, services to support Knoxville police’s new Real Time Information Center, additional city-wide cameras, and the adoption of Axon’s Fusus software.
Fusus integrates various data sources, allowing officers at a center to stream video monitoring, respond to incidents more efficiently, and share real-time updates with other first responders. During contract negotiations, the city recognized the potential of Axon’s technology to enhance the center’s operations and decided to include these upgrades in the proposed agreement.
“Ultimately, the contract ensures that our technologies keep up with modern-day policing, improving transparency and accountability, allowing us to respond more quickly to emergencies and also to solve crimes faster,” Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon said. “We’ve seen how it works well in other places, and I think the people of Knoxville deserve similar levels of public safety.”
The discussion surrounding the approved contract centered on Axon’s Fusus software and the real-time monitoring center, despite it accounting for less than 5% of the agreement’s cost.
The monitoring center at Knoxville’s public safety complex will allow staff to access public and private camera feeds to assist investigations and monitor emergencies. But Knoxville Police Chief Paul Noel noted that 95% of the center’s work will involve reviewing footage from past incidents.
Noel highlighted the decrease in homicides across the city and credited the use of surveillance in solving crimes. He also maintained that the new expansion would increase transparency and accountability, emphasizing that the department has strict policies in place to prevent biased policing, supported by the establishment of the Office of Professional Standards.
He credited the work of community policing in specific neighborhoods with reducing crime, but Parker also cited the work of grassroots organizations as contributing to the decline.
“We’ve done some intentional community outreach and engagement in communities that are labeled hot zones,” Noel said. “Some people have talked about over-policing, but what you’ve seen in that area, arrests and stops have also plummeted at the same time. That’s because the officers are getting out, walking and building relationships with the community.”
The City Council approved the policing contract by a 7-2 vote, with council members Gwen McKenzie, Lauren Rider, Andrew Roberto, Charles Thomas, Debbie Helsley, Lynne Fugate, and Vice Mayor Tommy Smith in favor, and Seema Singh and Parker against.
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