Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and Chief Eve Thomas presented a Unit Commendation Award to several employees for their hard work over the summer months repairing and updating Safety City. 

Being honored included Officers Lori Banks, Geoff Murrett, Lee Shaw along with Training Specialists Joyce Minter, Austin Smith, and Emily Tucker.

Safety City is an educational facility for 2nd grade students maintained and staffed by the Knoxville Police Department.  Since its establishment over 17-years-ago, training has been provided to approximately 178,000 students from Knox and surrounding counties. During the years, the facility has endured various maintenance issues along with normal wear and tear that have gone without attention due to the high demand of the staff’s class schedule.  The staff at Safety City decided that repairs and maintenance would be the sole focus of their efforts when the 2018 school year ended.  

Chief Thomas said, “Since late May, the staff at Safety City along with SRO Geoff Murrett, have replaced 45 windows, pressure washed 8 acres of sidewalks and streets, remodeled and cleaned the garage, repaired and serviced 15 battery-powered cars, replaced 23 training wheel equipped bikes, painted 12 buildings, painted and remodeled the Fire Safety House, restriped the front parking lot and replaced over 150 street signs. 
In addition, they also removed and relocated several snakes, bee’s nest and unwanted weeds and shrubs.”

All this work took place while still opening 2 days a week so the public could enjoy the city with their families.  These long-overdue repairs would not have happened without the leadership of Officer Lori Banks and the dedication and commitment of these employees.  The Safety City staff is truly committed to making this facility a safe and happy learning environment for all the children that visit.