KNOXVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT - City of Knoxville

The Reserve Unit provides supplemental manpower to the Patrol Division. The Unit is assigned tothe District Support Unit, but provides supplemental assistance to all branches of the Department.The Unit generated approximately 3,665 hours of volunteer assistance during 2009, and completedan additional 810 hours of training. A Reserve Officer performs at least 16 hours of service eachmonth, which consists of attending bi-weekly meetings and providing supplemental police services.The Volunteer Courtesy Officer (VCO) Program fosters a culture of service, citizenship, and responsibilityto help communities prevent, prepare, and respond to crime, natural disasters, andemergencies. In 2009 the VCO Program began to take an active role in working the many specialevents held on the Market Square Mall. These events included traffic assistance during UT footballgames, safety patrol during events held at Safety City & Chilhowee Park and traffic assistance duringmany of the parades and holiday events held downtown. The VCO Program contributed over1,300 hours of volunteer service while working these special events.The Explorer Program of the Knoxville Police Department is a scouting program that reaches outto young men and women ages 14 to 21 to provide them with an introduction to law enforcementas a career. The volunteers meet to learn about law enforcement in general and the Knoxville PoliceDepartment specifically. Additionally, they learn skills pertinent to their work in law enforcement aswell as skills that provide them with a solid foundation to become productive members of our community.The Explorers are assigned to the District Support Unit of the Patrol Division.In 2009, the Explorer Unit held 37 training sessions and assisted the Department at 57 events. Themajority of these events are related to assisting with traffic and crowd control, crime prevention deployments,and safety education activities. The Explorer Program donated 2,073 man-hours to theDepartment and community in 2009.The Crisis Negotiations Unit is responsible for responding to incidents that require officerstrained in crisis intervention and negotiation techniques to de-escalate, stabilize and peacefully resolvea wide array of situations that officers encounter when dealing with persons in crisis. The NegotiationsUnit responded to 8 incidents in 2009 that included a bridge jumper, barricaded suspectsand suicidal individuals. All incidents were resolved peacefully with no injuries to the suspects, citizensor officers. The Unit participated in 80 hours of training during the monthly training days. Thetraining consisted of classes, case studies, guest speakers, equipment proficiency and scenariobased training. There are currently 17 officers on the team. All members have been trained in crisisnegotiations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Association of Hostage Negotiators.The Special Operations Squad responds to highriskincidents requiring specialized training and/orequipment. The members of the team train to performas a highly disciplined unit during any unusual occurrence.Some of the incidents include hostage situations,barricaded subjects, acts of terrorism, riot control,dignitary protection, mass arrest situations, snipersituations, civil defense and high risk warrant service.2009 Annual Report 28