The Knoxville Police Department recently participated in the National Policing Institute’s Rapid Performance Assessment (RPA), an emerging performance improvement and learning tool that evaluated officer interactions with the community members through body-worn camera footage.  
 
As part of the assessment, NPI worked with its technology partner, Polis Solutions, to randomly analyze nearly 7,000 police interactions from 2025, totaling more than 2,100 hours of footage across the department’s three patrol districts. The evaluation measured and graded the quality and professionalism of officer interactions with the public in the aggregate.
 
The results showed that 93 percent of KPD’s interactions were rated as either positive or very positive, indicating that the majority of individuals who engaged with KPD officers in 2025 experienced high-quality, professional service. The evaluation also found that in 97 percent of the interactions the officer involved communicated and listened well.
 
The analysis also highlighted key strengths within the department. According to the findings, KPD officers demonstrated a strong ability to de-escalate and calmly resolve situations.  
 
 “We greatly appreciated the chance to work with NPI and participate in this assessment,” Chief Paul Noel said. “The rapid growth and evolution of AI capabilities present agencies like ours with a tremendous opportunity to get objective feedback and improve performance. We were proud to be at the front end of this emerging resource for our profession.
 
“I am also proud of the results of this assessment, which highlighted the high level of professionalism our officers bring to the job every day,” Chief Noel continued. “I appreciate our officers for the way they handle calls for service and daily interactions, especially their ability to effectively de-escalate difficult situations. We’ll use the feedback from the assessment to continue to improve and strengthen our relationships with the people we serve.”  
 
The assessment also identified opportunities for improvement, noting that officers can improve early on in interactions when dealing with argumentative individuals.  
 
Overall, the National Policing Institute recommended KPD reinforce what is already working, continue to prepare officers for challenging interactions with scenario-based training and continue measuring data to see areas of improvement and continuing challenges.
 
“Law enforcement agencies aim to serve their communities with professionalism, respect, and fairness,” NPI President Jim Burch said. “NPI’s assessment is designed to support those aims. What makes this work unique is that it allows the agency to review all contacts with the community, not just those that involve a problem, and it takes into account the actions of both the officer and the community member, giving us a more complete picture of performance. In a matter of days and without any additional reporting or data collection, an agency can gain meaningful insights into officer-community interactions and develop a roadmap for improvement and growth. That’s a powerful tool, and NPI is proud to make it available to law enforcement across the US.” 
 
The full NPI Rapid Assessment Report can be found here.