Early voting starts next week (Aug. 11-26) for five seats (a majority) on Knoxville City Council. Election day is Tuesday, Aug. 31. The top two vote-getters from each district will move on to a citywide vote on Nov. 2.
We have polled the candidates on three issues, asking for a one-word answer but allowing a more detailed response. Find their responses on covid vaccine here and on public funding for a baseball stadium here.
This week’s question: Should funding for the Knoxville Police Department be: Increased? Decreased? Redirected to include a social services component?
Tommy Smith (District 1 incumbent): The amount we recently approved in the city’s 21/22 budget is appropriate.
Elizabeth Murphy (D 1): Right now we’re down about 40 officers in the city. Rather than spending 500k on a mural for downtown, I’d rather see a signing bonus incentive given to recruit officers to fil those vacancies.
David Hayes (D 1): No response
Andrew Roberto (D-2 incumbent): One of the biggest challenges facing the department is the fact that we are not at full force. Officers are generally overworked and underpaid. I’d like to see more money invested to correct these issues. I’m also supportive of the idea that social services can have a positive impact on crime prevention. I would like to see more investment there as well. I don’t think we have to choose one or the other. I would like to see both funded to an adequate level.
Kim Smith (D-2): Public safety is the No. 1 priority for our children and our neighborhoods. The police should be able to protect us in the efficient manner in which they have been trained without such restrictive constraints. We must keep police in our schools and I question the poor judgement of the decision by the city mayor and city council majority that allowed the agreement to be canceled and the police almost taken out of our schools. KPD funding should most definitely be increased. We must find a solution to fill the overwhelming vacancies within the department as soon as possible.
Seema Singh (D 3 incumbent): Funding for KPD should be redirected to include social service components that work towards prevention of crime. This leads to fewer victims and a more reasonable workload for officers.
Nick Ciparro (D 3): KPD needs a full roster more than anything. Then they need excellent training to raise the bar of service they provide.
Lauren Rider (D 4 incumbent): Increased. We are chronically short officers and too reliant on overtime to cover basic beats. Two years without new recruits has us in arrears and struggling to catch up. We have to pay to attract and retain and train appropriately.
Jim Klonaris (D 4): Increased. The basic premise of living in our society revolves around safety and security. In my opinion, public safety is a number #1 priority. Whether we are talking safety on the streets, in our neighborhoods or in our schools, police should be able to protect us without having their hands tied. We must keep police in the schools, and I question the recent poor judgment of the city leadership, the city mayor and the “quiet” city council majority, that allowed the agreement to be canceled. Only after realizing the misstep did we get an about face response as police were almost taken out of our schools. KPD funding should absolutely be increased and any additional funding for social services needs to be considered separate from the KPD budget. There is no reason to defund the current police budget. Solutions must be adopted to fill the nearly 40 police officer positions that have been vacant.
Jen McMahon (D 4): Decreased and redirected to social services, mental health programs, and more affordable and transitional housing. When we address the main issues behind crime: lack of mental- and physical-health resources, living wage employment opportunities, sustainable housing, and youth engagement/education, our communities will be safer for all and increased policing will not be needed. There’s absolutely no reason why we should be spending $81 million on police, but only $8.1 million on affordable housing.
Gwen McKenzie (District 6 incumbent): Funding for KPD should be increased with expanded funding for social services component.
Garrett Holt (D-6): KPD is facing major staffing shortages and has been for years. The question is not as simple as whether funding should be increased or not. We need to focus on better recruitment and retainment efforts, revising their pay scaling and structure, and providing them more support from both the public and the city’s administration.
Deidra Harper (D-6): No response.