Westley Ryan Williams is just 28, in his eighth year as an officer with the Knoxville Police Dept. (KPD). He’s a rising star who survived a rugged family life and was reared by his late great-great-grandparents, Melvin and Anna Faye Hill, in their Pigeon Forge home.

“They are responsible for making me who I am today,” he says.

When his KPD supervisors talk about him, here are their words and opinions:

  • “Consistently high-quality work, attention to detail and unwavering dedication to the people of Knoxville.”
  • “His innovative strategies to apprehend wanted individuals, the willingness to take the lead on complex investigations, his sound judgment and compassion.”
  • “Embodies the core values of service, accountability and patrol-level leadership. His dedication, character and consistent excellence make him exceptionally deserving.”

Westley Williams

High praise indeed for such a young officer.

That praise, based on his on-the-job performance, is why he was recently honored as the 2025 KPD Officer of the Year by Chief Paul Noel and Mayor Indya Kincannon.

And just what does young Williams do at the KPD?

He’s a six-year member of CERT—the Community Engagement Response Team. This is a busy group, a team of 12 heavily involved in major crimes and undertaking complex investigations involving violent offenders. Dangerous work, in short.

Williams has two other jobs called critical by the higher-ups. He is a trained crisis negotiator with the ability to talk a man down from taking his life by jumping from a building – which he has done, as one example. He’s also on call to assist other officers by negotiating with a murder suspect who refuses to be arrested. “Negotiating is very different and amazing. You learn their name. You want to look them in their eyes. Tell them they’ll be OK and make sure they know I’m sincere.  One man looked at me and thanked me. He knew I cared and was trying to help.”

His third job sounds simple – driving instructor. It isn’t. He teaches the new officers at the Police Academy a variety of skills in handling their vehicles when patrolling. How to operate the car safely. How to pull over a fleeing car and make a stop. When to use emergency lights and a siren. How to make high-risk stops. When to pursue and when not to pursue. Critical skills. It’s a job he describes as “a lot of fun.”

In 2025, while assigned to CERT, Williams was directly involved in numerous notable investigations and arrests of known violent offenders, including one in May 2025 that resulted in the seizure of over 100 grams of suspected fentanyl. Major bust.

After graduating from Pigeon Forge High School in 2016, he joined the KPD as a cadet in 2018 and was sworn in as an officer in 2020. Following high school and while a cadet, he went to the University of Tennessee and in May 2020 graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in political science.

Williams always has a plan. He made sure to take criminal justice courses geared to law enforcement at UT. “Some of what I experienced in class from professors and other students was not what you’d call police friendly. Lots of anti-cop vibes,” he said, adding, “it opened my mind to both sides of the police coin.”

His psychology and criminal justice classes offered him valuable lessons about people. “We need to try and understand the people we deal with and arrest. Many of these people have gone through things we know nothing about, or are going through things that have led them to where they are. It can be complicated. I try to factor that into how I deal with them individually in the process. What I’m doing changes their lives.”

Williams is enjoying being part of CERT, led by Capt. Robert Taylor and Lt. Michael Geddings, along with Sgt. Adam Winstead and Sgt. Robby Johnson. “Our mission is to reduce violent crime in the city and do it by targeting specific individuals engaged in and creating the violence,” he says. “We try to build our own cases on individuals and work with the Homicide and Organized Crime units. We work with Patrol on violent crimes like shootings and stabbings throughout our city. And I’m constantly learning here from our great supervisors.”

His wife, Emma Mitchell, works for the Knoxville Community Development Corp. (KCDC) as a procurement analyst. Her father, Benny, was an influence on Williams joining the KPD. Benny, he said, recently retired after 30 years with the KPD as a motorcycle officer. “He told me about the cadet program and what a great department KPD really is and here I am. He made a difference here.”

“Coolest” is what he calls one case. “We had an alert and notice about a female juvenile, 15 or 16, kidnapped out of Missouri. The bulletin said it was suspected that the man was driving to Knoxville and there were stickers all over the back of his truck,” Williams recalls. “I was driving down Magnolia Avenue and happened to spot a truck with the stickers in a motel parking lot and a guy standing outside beside the truck. I kinda walked around so he could not see me, and he thought he’d outsmart us and act like nothing was wrong and not run. We arrested him right there and the FBI found the girl in a motel room. Big win for everybody.”

As was said, he always has a plan. His next goal at KPD is to become a detective.

How does he relax from the long hours and the stress? He says the gym is the main thing, plus movies and shows. “Actually, it’s whatever Emma wants to do,” he said. Young but smart, this officer.

The major KPD honor, he says, was so special, and here’s why. “It still feels unreal to me. It’s almost surreal being Officer of the Year. I was incredibly surprised because I’m surrounded by a lot of hard-working officers, both on patrol and in investigations, who work their tails off every day. I know at least 20 other officers who could have received this honor.”

Williams has one quote that explains his approach to every aspect of his life: “Just being good enough isn’t good enough.”

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.

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