KCSO opens new Turkey Creek station
Knox County Sheriff’s Office unveiled its new location in the Pinnacle at Turkey Creek Shopping Center off Parkside Drive Saturday, May 7.
The office on the second floor of Farragut Town Hall still will remain open.
“The office at the town of Farragut, we had a lot of clerical things done there,” Chief Lee Tramel said. “You could still meet an officer there but it was inside, upstairs, kind of back around the corner, and we can still do work out of that office, but it’s much easier here with a store front for the public to come in. It’s easy access parking. It’s frontage to Parkside Drive and then the presence here that it adds.”
“I actually think it’s going to be a major improvement for our shoplifting or any other incidents we have on the property,” said Ashley Lynch, director of public safety for Universal Protection Service.
“This one’s more geared toward the officers and what they need to do on a daily basis,” KCSO Capt. Rob Lawson said. “It’s going to be a fully functioning precinct.”
Darryl Whitehead, general manager of Pinnacle at Turkey Creek, said the new office was his idea in conjunction with KCSO Capt. Brad Hall.
“It’s perfectly located to service the middle and right in the heart of Turkey Creek,” he said.
Various area law enforcement departments and emergency first responders came out to show off their equipment at the opening ceremony.
Nick Phillips will work with Organized Retail Crime Unit, based out of the new office to stop crimes, including shoplifting and fraud that involve the area’s retailers. He has 26 years of experience but is new to the Farragut Area.
“The retailers are really, really good, and I like working with them a lot,” he said, regarding his thoughts on the area.
Lawson said the office would be used for signing warrants and doing paperwork such as writing reports. He also said the public could talk to a detective at the office.
Thanks to the additional space, Lawson said the new office would have a desk designated for the patrol officers to use.
“You’ll see a lot more patrol cars in this area because of the ability they have to do reports, to Skype with the commissioner downtown, to digitally sign warrants, and they don’t have to travel 22 minutes downtown, 22 minutes back to be able to get back on their beat on patrol. It’s going to be much more efficient for our patrol officers,” Tramel said.
Lawson said most deputies would be at the Pinnacle Office while the Town Hall office will continue to have at least a clerk. Separate full time employees will handle day-to-day business at both offices. He will be splitting his time between the two locations.
