Reducing Gun Crimes and Improving Community Relations in Knoxville

In late 2023, the Knoxville Police Department (KPD) officially launched its place-based strategy (PBS) zones, a violence reduction and community-building initiative designed to improve public safety and quality of life in areas disproportionately impacted by gun violence. The initiative is a data-driven, problem-solving approach that has proven effective at preventing gun crimes while simultaneously building authentic relationships in the community.

 KPD’s initiative builds on the foundations of place-based policing by making a sustained, long-term commitment to select geographic areas. Additionally, the approach relies on partnerships with various City of Knoxville departments, service providers, and non-profit organizations to holistically address issues that contribute to crime, disorder and diminished quality of life.

Strategic Selection of PBS Zones

 With the unified goal of meaningfully reducing gun violence in concentrated pockets of the community, KPD crime analysts conducted a comprehensive review of fatal and non-fatal shooting incidents. That review process, paired with input from community and department members, identified a 7.5-block area in the city’s East District that had experienced the highest number of shootings in the previous five years. The East District PBS zone was officially established as part of a pilot program in November 2023.

After a successful pilot period, the KPD expanded the program by adding two more PBS zones in mid-2024, one in the Central District and one in the West District.

KPD and its partners considered many factors when establishing the boundaries of the zones, including available resources, organizational capacity, and the unique needs of the selected areas. The zones that were identified were intentionally limited in size to ensure the initiative could be sustained long term and make a lasting impact.

Visibility, Collaborative Problem-Solving, and Measuring Outcomes

Central to the initiative is an intentional and consistent visible police presence in the form of vehicle, foot, and bicycle patrols. Front-line personnel assign directed patrols daily, with oversight from the district commanders.

Enforcement actions alone do not measure the effectiveness of directed patrols and police activity. Instead, officers conducting assigned PBS-zone patrols are given clear directives to positively engage with residents, help identify solutions for the issues identified in those communities and take enforcement action only when necessary.

City departments, such as the Office of Community Safety, Codes Enforcement, Public Service, and many community service providers have committed resources to the initiative and regularly contribute to the problem-solving efforts.

To effectively track and manage outcomes in the PBS zones and respond to changes in real time, KPD’s Crime Analysis Unit created PBS zone dashboards that update daily. The dashboards capture incidents, calls for service, directed patrols, and patrol results, including citizen contacts. District commanders are expected to report on activity within their respective PBS zone during weekly crime strategy meetings and make appropriate adjustments when outcomes do not meet expectations.

Sustainability Through Department Buy-In and Community Support

 The success of the PBS initiative can be attributed in large part to the department-wide buy-in at all levels of KPD. From the outset, department members understood the purpose and intent of the PBS initiative. Most importantly, officers responsible for executing the vision were told the “why.” Nearly two years in, the initiative has now become a foundational piece of KPD’s culture and crime reduction strategies. KPD leaders continue to reinforce the importance of the initiative to officers and regularly share positive outcomes and resident feedback.

The initiative has resulted in a meaningful reduction in violence in PBS zones, as the East District PBS zone went over 16 months consecutively without experiencing a single fatal or non-fatal shooting. The intrinsic value of the initiative and philosophy at the heart of it has also revealed itself to officers who have experienced dramatically enhanced community relationships as they work to protect and serve the communities of Knoxville.

Authors:

Chief Paul Noel, Knoxville Police Department

Scott Erland, Communications Manager, Knoxville Police Department

Published August 6, 2025