Knoxville Mayor Daniel Brown and Police Chief David Rausch named Brandi Carson the August Civilian Employee of the Month for the Knoxville Police Department. Ms. Carson is a victim services counselor in the department's Family Crimes Unit and has been with KPD since August 2003.

Chief Rausch said that Ms. Carson discovered that the signing of petitions for orders of protection was being significantly delayed because of the time involved in the physical delivery of the petitions from the Justice Center to the courthouse and then the subsequent returns. That meant a domestic violence victim filing a petition on Friday would not have a signed order returned until the following Tuesday.

Chief Rausch said, "Ms. Carson requested a meeting with Judge Bill Swann to discuss the deficient procedure. During the meeting Ms. Carson suggested using an electronic filing procedure to eliminate the delays."

Ms. Carson researched what software and hardware would be required to implement the new procedure. She reformatted the petition form to make it "user friendly" for the electronic process and made a collaborative presentation to Justice Center supervisors.

Chief Rausch said, "Ms. Carson used her advanced computer skills to reformat an exhaustive document, trained numerous individuals on the new procedures, and most importantly, assisted victims of domestic violence by speeding up the process to obtain an order of protection."

Mayor Brown said, "Ms. Carson's efforts have greatly increased the security of domestic violence victims. We applaud her dedication to her job and to the citizens we serve."