On Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, the Knoxville Police Department held its latest graduation ceremony, welcoming 20 new KPD officers to the force. The ceremony concluded an intense and all-encompassing 22-week training academy for the graduates who made it thanks to their tremendous desire, willpower and perseverance, as well as the tireless and dedicated work of the KPD Training Unit.

The eight-person Training Unit consists of Lieutenant Sammy Shaffer, Sergeant Shane Watson, Sergeant Tom Walker, Marci Ware, Officer Michele Goldsberry, Officer John Sutton, Officer Craig McNew, Officer Brian Mullane, and Officer Tim Walker, who will be transitioning back to patrol after assisting the unit during the most recent recruit academy.

In addition to running two recruit academies in 2020--including a stretch late in the year when those two academies overlapped--the Training Unit also oversaw and facilitated the required yearly in-service training for all sworn KPD officers. The efforts to keep the training academy operating smoothly while also ensuring that all sworn officers completed their in-service training was made all the more difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

But thanks to the dedication, resolve and passion of the KPD Training Staff, those efforts proved successful, and 20 trainees heard their names called as the newest members of the Knoxville Police Department on February 11. 

The KPD and the City of Knoxville are lucky to have a team so entirely committed to providing the best possible training available for its officers.