Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and Police Chief David Rausch named Brenda Hicks the 2012 Civilian Employee of the Year for the Knoxville Police Department.

Ms. Hicks has been with KPD since April 2001 and is currently assigned to the Safety Education Unit.

In early 2012 the Support Services Division made the decision to go paperless by converting all the departmental documents to PDF type forms including forms that require electronic signature capability. The changeover would eliminate the need to print out most documents while saving the city money and saving the destruction of more trees.

Chief Rausch said, "This was a monumental task that required the addition of new software, training, and trial and error. Ms. Hicks tackled the job without hesitation and became a self-taught departmental expert in the creation of these forms. All of this was in addition to her normal daily duties."

Since the unit went live with the electronic forms in October, Ms. Hicks is now taking on a new challenge: the conversion of all General Orders (GO) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's).

The conversion required that each GO and SOP had to be reformatted and updated with new cover letters.

Chief Rausch said, "In addition to this heavy work load, Ms. Hicks continues to represent the department at community events including those in the evenings and on weekends and is a child passenger safety seat technician."

Mayor Rogero said, "It is obvious that Ms. Hicks takes pride in the police department and her work ethic is unwavering. We also appreciate her efforts to help save our environment while also saving tax payer money."