Knox News can put city leaders under oath about police chief search, judge rules

The city of Knoxville cannot block Knox News from asking officials questions under oath about how they conducted their search for a police chief, a judge has ruled.

Mayor Indya Kincannon's office has tried to derail Knox News' effort to find out how she conducted the secretive police chief search, claiming the only documents about the process are held by the private firm the city hired to identify and screen candidates.

Chancellor John Weaver rejected the city's arguments that it was protected by other court cases. Weaver did not rule out Knox News' ability to subpoena the search firm, Police Executive Research Forum, commonly called PERF. If Knox News sought to subpoena PERF after it questions city officials, the news organization would need Weaver's approval.

The opinion was released Tuesday.

"We've been persistent in pushing for your right to know how critical decisions are made by those you elected," said Joel Christopher, Knox News executive editor, "and we're pleased to see a ruling that advances accountability and transparency from the mayor's office."

A spokesperson for the city declined to comment on the ruling.

Knox News sued the city on behalf of taxpayers to see records from the search.

The city has maintained that releasing candidates’ names would have a “chilling effect” on the careers of the men and women who applied, a notion debunked by research compiled by Knox News.

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Kincannon selected Paul Noel, a deputy chief from the New Orleans Police Department. He was sworn into office in June. The city took public input at the beginning of the search but soon shut the door – literally.

The entire process was done intentionally to not create public records. A private attorney hired by the city said as much at a hearing in October.

In a hearing to decide whether Knox News has the right to subpoena city officials, Knox News attorney Rick Hollow and Weaver backed the city’s private attorney, Chris McCarty, into a corner. McCarty admitted the city hired the third-party search firm so it could skirt open record laws.

“Your honor, obviously when I say – (pause) – the answer is yes because we were trying to eliminate the possibility that those candidates would fear that their names would be disclosed to the public, therefore, questioning and threatening their current jobs, therefore not having them apply in the first place,” McCarty said. “I have to keep bringing that up - that’s the actual motivation here.”

Without having a full accounting of who was considered for the position, a number of questions cannot be answered: Who was considered? What qualifications did they have? Did the candidates include woman and people of color? Was the process fair?

What’s more, research of police chief searches handled by PERF, compiled by Knox News, shows there is no such chilling effect on candidates. None of the candidates who were publicly identified lost their job or were demoted. Instead, they either stayed at the same job or were hired as chiefs elsewhere within a year or two.

The city has maintained for months it has no records of the candidates or finalists. The agreement Knoxville struck with PERF, however, explicitly allows Kincannon to request the records for up to three years.

How the city handled its closed-door police chief search

As the search firm sought out candidates and narrowed the field, city leaders deliberately avoided creating public records to hide from residents the details of the process and the people under consideration.

• The city hired a private organization to conduct a candidate search instead of relying on its own human resources department.

• That organization, the Police Executive Research Forum, handled the hiring process at a cost to taxpayers of $43,000.

• Kincannon appointed a committee to review candidates, but required members who weren't city employees to sign nondisclosure agreements so they couldn't discuss the hiring process.

• The Police Executive Research Forum collected applications and shared them with the city, but only by methods that did not create documents, which must be shared with the public under Tennessee open records laws.

• The Police Executive Research Forum set up interviews by Zoom, the online teleconference system. It showed candidates' resumes and other documents within the Zoom so the city did not have written documents subject to public scrutiny.

What records the city denied

Knoxville refused Knox News' following open records requests, including details of meetings of a Police Chief Advisory Committee made up mainly of public employees and convened by the mayor:

• Provide a list of the names of the people who applied for the Knoxville police chief position

• Provide the age, ethnicity and gender of each of the applicants for the Knoxville police chief position

• Provide the resumes of the applicants for the Knoxville police chief position

• Provide a schedule of all Police Chief Advisory Committee meetings

• Provide any/all Police Chief Advisory Committee meeting agendas, minutes and other documents created by/for the committee

• Provide permission to sit in on upcoming Police Chief Advisory Committee meetings

Separately the city denied a request for "each and every record, document, electronic file or other material, regardless of physical form or characteristic, made or received."

Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @tyler_whetstone. Make our community, our society and our republic stronger by supporting robust local journalism. Subscribe online at knoxnews.com/subscribe. 

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox News can put Knoxville leaders under oath, judge rules