Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam and Police Chief Sterling Owen today named Officer Chris Jones and Officer Joshua Dykes the December Officers of the Month. Officer Jones has been with KPD since November 2003. Officer Dykes joined KPD in August 2005.

Chief Owen said that in the early morning hours of December 6, 2007, west district officers responded to several business burglaries. In each burglary, suspects broke out the front window to gain access to the business. At approximately 6:42 a.m., Officer Jones responded to an alarm call at a business on Western Avenue where he discovered another burglary. Officer Jones immediately began gathering evidence from the store, which enabled him to link all the burglaries together. Additional evidence indicated the suspects were driving a white Cadillac and was likely heading to an apartment complex on Middlebrook Pike. 
 
Based on that information, Officer Dykes responded to the apartment complex where he located the suspect's vehicle. He also observed one of the suspects flee into an apartment. Officer Dykes quickly coordinated the response of other officers and established a perimeter to prevent the suspect from fleeing. Once the perimeter was set, Officer Dykes went to the apartment where he received consent to search the apartment from the lessee.

During the search of the apartment, three suspects were located along with numerous items that had been stolen throughout the night. Items recovered included video game systems, game accessories, computers, and numerous items of clothing. One suspect was wearing clothing that had just been stolen from the business on Western Avenue. In all, including stolen property and structural damages to the businesses, there was over $15,000.00 in damages and stolen goods.

Three suspects were arrested and were each charged with three counts of Burglary and one count of Vandalism. 

Chief Owen said, "Because of these officers' actions, all of the stolen property was recovered before it could be sold or pawned which would have made the recovery difficult if not impossible." 

Mayor Haslam said, "This was an exceptional effort put forth by these officers. We thank them for a job well done."

Suspects arrested:

Brian White, DOB 6-10-88
Kaleb Jones, DOB 11-29-87
Christopher Reid, DOB 1-14-89

Both officers will receive a signed certificate from the mayor and chief.