On a clear day, you can see the outline of Mount Le Conte from the Knoxville police chief’s fifth-floor office inside the Public Safety Complex.
Paul Noel, back from a monthlong suspension for exchanging sexually charged text messages
with a subordinate, is the only person who has occupied the office with the breathtaking view since the new police headquarters opened in 2023. And he says he's not going anywhere.Noel returned to office Sept. 6 and met with reporters Sept. 15 in a series of interviews with individual news outlets. In his conversation with Knox News, he apologized and took responsibility for his actions, thanked Mayor Indya Kincannon for her support and said he’s asked the police force to continue to work with him.
“You know, I'm
taking responsibility for what I've done. I'm ashamed of what I've done, obviously,” he said. “But I've also publicly and privately taken responsibility for that. I've certainly learned from it. I've grown, and my plan is to move forward.”
Whether the department moves forward with him remains to be seen, though he's confident it will.
His future is complicated for two related reasons. One, Noel was hired in large part because of his national reputation for ethical policing and, whether he liked the label or not, because he is a reformer. And two, the department he inherited was a mess, beset by racism and sexism and led by compromised commanders.
Now, with his reputation tarnished, Noel is asking the community and officers under his command to look at his body of work from his time before he arrived in Knoxville and the work he's accomplished since then, including cleaning up much of the mess that preceded him.
Why Knoxville Police Chief Paul Noel was suspended
Noel was suspended for 30 days for his inappropriate texts with patrol officer Jasmine Reed. The messages extended from April 2024 to March on both city and personal phones. The sexually charged messages, however, were sent exclusively from personal phones from September 2024 to February.
The chats were partly a way for Noel to get intel from a beat officer about the department, specifically about how other officers felt about KPD leaders' decisions. But Noel also disclosed information to Reed before it was public, such as the introduction of a horse-mounted patrol unit and KPD's plans to purchase drones for its real-time surveillance center.
An independent investigation found Noel violated KPD policies covering the code of ethics, general responsibilities, unbecoming conduct, sexual misconduct and general misconduct. The review also found he likely violated a sixth policy governing "respect between the ranks."
"The actions of Chief Noel do not meet the professional standards of any city employee," Kincannon said at a press conference announcing Noel’s suspension.
The suspension without pay cost Noel nearly $19,000 (he makes $226,000 annually) on top of mandated counseling and training he had to pay for on his own.
Any future command decisions involving Reed will be handled by Assistant Chief David Powell, Noel said.
Why didn't Mayor Indya Kincannon fire Noel?
Noel met with reporters in KPD’s main conference room down the hall from his office. The room serves as administrative headquarters, a place for Noel to meet with community members and, occasionally, to hold disciplinary hearings.
“I tell anyone that's facing serious discipline, I tell them the same thing,” he said, “that you take responsibility for your mistakes, you learn from them, you grow and then we move forward. So, what I've asked here of the men and women that work here, is to show me that same grace. I've taken responsibility for what I've done."
Noel said he doesn't think Kincannon, who called Noel's hiring the most consequential decision she would make as mayor, seriously weighed firing him and he made it clear he was never going to offer his resignation. His plan since he and his family came here in 2022 and moved his parents here, he said, has been to stay in Knoxville.
The city charter gives Kincannon the ability to fire any department head without cause as they all serve at the pleasure of the mayor. With Noel, she had cause to fire him but opted to keep him.
Kristin Farley, a spokesperson for Kincannon, said at the time Noel was suspended in August that Noel's offenses were punishable up to firing, but termination wasn't mandated. And while he acted unprofessionally, he did not break the law.
Farley shared several factors the mayor considered before suspending him:
- No complaints or harassment claims have been filed against Noel
- The independent investigator's report showed Noel engaged in no illegal activities
- Both parties testified there was flirtatious texting, but no physical relationship
- There was no evidence Noel showed any favoritism toward the officer
- Noel and the officer cooperated with the investigation
Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Email: tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com; X: @tyler_whetstone; Signal: twhetstone141924.39
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: A contrite Paul Noel is ready to move past scandal as KPD chief
