“Quickly made a big impact on our department.”
“Emerged as a leader on our squad.”
“Brought a track record of dedicated service from his time in the U.S. Marine Corps.”
“Demonstrated his commitment to making Knoxville safer through his sharp investigative skills, tireless work ethic and compassion for those he serves.”
Those superlatives voiced by Knoxville Police Dept. (KPD) Lt. Dylan Bradley, commander of the East District Bravo Squad, refer to Patrol Officer J. Cory Herb, who joined KPD in September 2024 along with his wife of 17 years, Kate. They graduated from the same KPD Police Academy class in March 2025. He patrols East Knoxville and she works on Knoxville’s west side.
Herb, 39, was honored in July 2026 as the KPD Officer of the Month and today we honor him as this week’s Our Town Hero.
He left the Marines in 2016 after 10 years for medical reasons as a Sergeant E-5 with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines. This is an infantry battalion based at the Marine Air-Ground Combat Center at Camp Pendleton in Twentynine Palms, CA. His specialty was “Ordnance” – as in bombs and munitions.
He spent most of 2010 deployed to Afghanistan, saw combat action there, and was injured. He also served in Japan as part of a U.S. Marine Security Forces team. After returning from Afghanistan, he worked for 3½ years as a Combat Instructor at Camp Pendleton.
Herb loved being a Marine, and he loves being part of KPD and Knoxville. “I love working the East District because of the people. It is full of wonderful people who are great to work with. I know this part of town gets a bad rap for crime and drugs but there’s a lot more to it than those things. They are really good people, and they’re good to us, and when you make a friend there, you have a real friend.”
Every month KPD flips most patrol shifts. His day shift runs from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the overnight shift is from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. Not surprisingly, he says, the overnight shift “is when things get busy.” His patrol area covers some 12-14 blocks concentrated around or near Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Chestnut Drive plus Hall of Fame Drive and Magnolia Avenue. That area, he said, includes the Walter P. Taylor Homes and Austin Homes.
“That’s the focal point where a lot of things happen…drugs, shootings, domestic situations and crime in general,” Herb said. “We have a lot of crack cocaine and Fentanyl. Many of the people arrested got hooked on opioids and moved on to harder drugs. It’s a sad downhill slope. We have people from 17 to 80 involved, males and females, every possible demographic. It’s pretty wild in this area.”
One prime example of an incident in July that led to his Officer of the Month honor is what happened. It happened at the Shell Gas Station at 411 Summit Hill Drive. “Things happen at and around that station and I was running surveillance of two guys in a car. People kept coming and getting into the car and then leaving and I watched for a while. I was around 280 feet away and sitting in the dark. Don‘t think they ever saw me. When backup arrived we drove in and confronted them. It was guys from Detroit using the I-75/40 corridor. Both felons. They had drugs and money in the car and the Organized Crime Unit found a lot of narcotics in their storage locker and motel room. This case is going through the courts now.”
Herb was born in Buffalo, N.Y. His father was in the U.S. Coast Guard and when he retired he was a U.S. Post Office mailman for 20 years. They eventually tired of the bad winters on the banks of Lake Erie and moved to Port St. Lucie, FL. Herb was 14. That was in June 2001.
He graduated high school in May 2006 and left for Marine boot camp in June 2006. “I did my entire Marine Corps career and got out medically (in 2016) after 10 years due to old injuries. Then college.” At Florida Atlantic University in 2020, he earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration with a focus on Finance and Financial Analysis.
In 2009, three years into his Marine job, he walked out of his barracks one morning. “I noticed this female Marine and we looked at one another and started talking. I asked her to dinner that night and we both felt it. Four months later they married. We’ve been together now for 17 years.” Marines together and cops together. When son Angelo came along in 2013, she left the Corps.
Today Herb, Kate and their son live on property in Clinton along with his parents, Brian and Debbie. They moved to East Tennessee in March 2021 for better weather and a lower cost of living. Angelo is a freshman at Oak Ridge High School and runs track, is in the school marching band and very active in the Junior ROTC program..
Herb worked in Graphic Design here for two years and decided he needed a change. Law enforcement had always been in the back of his mind and KPD was hiring. “I talked Kate into applying along with me and she did,” he said. “Being a cop has always been something I wanted to do. I loved the TV cops shows and now that I’m part of it, I know full well this is what I am supposed to be doing.”
J. Cory Herb
His time in Japan led to what he says is the Marine medal that means the most to him…and it does not involve combat. “Serving in combat was some of the best and worst times of my early adulthood. But after deeper reflection on what seems like a lifetime ago, I was awarded the “Military Outstanding Volunteer Medal” in 2009,” he explained. “We visited a small orphanage outside of Gotemba, at the base of Mount Fuji and were there several times. We’d play soccer with the children who had no real family. The kids loved it despite the language barrier. I never expected a medal for it and didn’t know that medal existed. I’ve only run into a handful of Marines with it.”
Now, why is being a cop so important to him? “I’ve got a front seat to the greatest show on earth. I see people having their worst and their best moments. We get to fix really bad situations, like domestic violence calls. When you can calm things, stop the violence, make an arrest and keep the victim safe, it’s great. It’s also a great feeling to get drugs and the dealers off the streets and hopefully save some lives.”
This Marine and police officer understands his responsibilities and every day he’s on patrol, he’s got our backs…and thrives on it. Note the symmetry in Lt. Bradley’s comments – Herb impacts the department, his squad, our country and our community. Semper Fi and Oorah!
Tom King is a weekly contributor to KnoxTNToday, where he writes the column Our Town Hero, honoring the service of our first responders. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email Tom using the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.
Enjoyed this article? Read more Our Town Hero columns by Tom King, sponsored by Aubrey’s Restaurants.
Follow KnoxTNToday on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn and TikTok.
Get all KnoxTNToday articles in one place with our free newsletter. Comments may be sent to news@knoxtntoday.com.
