The Knoxville City Council balked Tuesday night at asking city leaders to commit to a zero-tolerance policy for racist and sexist conduct by employees, opting instead for a stripped-down version of what was originally put forth by council member Amelia Parker.

The majority of members weren’t comfortable creating a true zero-tolerance policy for city employees — a policy, in short, that requires firing an employee found to have exhibited racism or harassing behavior. No counseling, no additional training, no second chances.

Tuesday’s council conversation followed a series of Knox News reports detailing a culture of racism within the police department.

Council member Lynne Fugate said Tuesday she had concerns about the implementation of a zero-tolerance policy recommendation for racist and sexist conduct by Knoxville police and city employees, and she proposed the substitute motion that eventually passed.

She said she had concerns about how a zero-tolerance policy would be interpreted, and gave an example of a student being suspended under a zero-tolerance weapons policy for having a plastic knife in their lunch box. Council member Janet Testerman said a zero-tolerance policy would mean supervisors would be leading by fear which, she said, leads to toxic cultures and mediocre performances.

Parker said she wasn’t married to the words “zero-tolerance” being written in city policy, but said she’s married to the spirit of it.

“You know, I think having ‘zero-tolerance’ in the policy would send a message, but if folks don’t like those words, we don’t have to put [those] words in there,” she said. “But we need a policy that removes that discretion from supervisors.”

Vice Mayor Gwen McKenzie agreed with Parker and said something has to change because what’s now on the books doesn’t cut it. McKenzie and Parker are the only Black council members.

Instead of coming back with suggestions that would be used to create ordinance suggestions under Parker’s proposal, Fugate asked the mayor to coordinate with the Law Department, the new Human Resources Department and Civil Service and to see how they can strengthen city policy under current civil service rules.

Fugate’s resolution also gives Mayor Indya Kincannon an additional month to report back to the council.

Parker said she was happy they passed a resolution, but the lesser version was a “disingenuous move by our city council.”

Fugate’s resolution also gives the mayor an additional month to report back to council.

Kincannon said she supported Fugate’s resolution and said the words “zero-tolerance” “reminds me of mandatory minimums,” a sentence prescribed by law for an offender regardless of the circumstances.

WHAT DOES THE CITY’S POLICY DO NOW?

Current city policies — which apply to the Knoxville Police Department — largely depend on the severity of the incident and the employee’s disciplinary history, Law Director Charles Swanson told Knox News on Monday.

Some 95% of all city employees (all non-department heads and mayoral appointees) are covered by Civil Service rules that lay out strict rules for employee protection and allow for progressive discipline in almost every situation.

At Tuesday’s meeting, new Human Resource Director Dr. Kelly Drummond said there are circumstances under which a supervisor can immediately fire an employee if the conduct is serious enough. In this situation, like every disciplinary action for city employees, the civil service policy allows the employee to appeal the discipline.

Knoxville Police Department policy requires “bias-free policing,” and its code of conduct says racism will not be tolerated. The city, for its part, has a strong policy against harassment, but it is not zero-tolerance.

“… [the] city maintains a strict policy prohibiting sexual harassment or any other harassment based on a protected class such as race, color, gender, age, religion, national origin, ethnic origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, creed, genetic information and disability. All forms of harassment are strictly prohibited.”

“You know, I think having ‘zero-tolerance’ in the policy would send a message, but if folks don’t like those words, we don’t have to put [those] words in there.” – KNOXVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AMELIA PARKER

HOW THEY GOT HERE

In June, Knox News detailed the experiences of six current and former officers who said the department has a longstanding failure to address a racist culture.

Specifically, officers told Knox News the following:

› Being racist is not a deal-breaker in the department.

› The department has a poor record of hiring and promoting Black officers and a general lack of diversity.

› The lack of diversity in command staff is a problem.

› Black officers don’t feel comfortable speaking out about issues, and are afraid complaints will fall on deaf ears or result in retribution.

More recently, Knox News reported about an internal complaint by Officer DionDré Jackson, who said last month that Lt. Lance Earlywine, Capt. Don Jones and Deputy Chief Kenny Miller misled internal investigators during a 2020 investigation into racist harassment by officer Adam Broome. Broome resigned after the investigation was launched.

This revelation caused Vice Mayor Gwen McKenzie to tell Knox News she had lost confidence that Chief Eve Thomas can rectify the department’s problems with racism in the ranks. Kincannon responded to McKenzie’s comments by saying she supports Thomas.

The police department’s internal affairs unit is investigating Jackson’s complaint, but the unit is the same one that did not challenge Miller, who told investigators he couldn’t recall being in a meeting when Jackson laid out a full account of how Broome made insulting racist comments and tried to pick a fight in a series of encounters with Jackson two years ago.