Atlanta Police Department Public Affairs
226 Peachtree Street SW • Atlanta, Georgia 30303
News Release
ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT NAMES NEW LGBT OFFICER
Atlanta Police Chief George Turner has named Officer Kristin Knight as the newest LGBT liaison to serve the department. Officer Knight will join Officer Brian Sharp as one of two LGBT liaisons for the department. She replaces Senior Police Officer Patricia Powell, who is moving on to a new position with the department’s Background & Recruitment Unit.
Knight, a native of Milford, Connecticut, joined the department in 2005 and worked as a patrol officer in Zone 5, covering Downtown and Midtown. Last year, Knight joined the department’s Community Liaison Unit in the Community Oriented Policing Section, serving Zone 5.
“I’m looking forward to this wonderful and challenging opportunity to serve as a link between the LGBT community and the brave men and women of the Atlanta Police Department,” Officer Knight said. “As a proud member of both the gay community and the APD, I will take great pride and care in ensuring we continue our mutual respect and understanding. The LGBT liaisons are instrumental in helping foster those partnerships that are at the core of our mission here at APD.”
Prior to joining APD, Knight worked briefly with the Transportation Security Administration. Previously, she worked in the restaurant business and joined APD when she was 23. Officer Knight moved to Atlanta to attend Clark Atlanta University. She is now working to complete her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at Saint Leo University.
“We’ve made great strides in strengthening our relationship with the LGBT community and I expect Officer Knight will keep up the great work already done by SPO Powell and Officer Sharp,” said Chief Turner.
“I am proud of the work our LGBT liaisons have done on behalf of the Atlanta Police Department and the City of Atlanta,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. “They provide a valuable link to Atlanta’s vibrant and diverse LGBT community, and I am confident that Officer Knight will excel in her new position.”
SPO Powell has served as the department’s LGBT liaison for two years, since May of 2010. She has served as an ex-officio member of the department’s LGBT Advisory Board, and helped create and execute the department’s LGBT awareness and sensitivity training.
“SPO Powell took the job at a difficult time in APD’s history, and has served honorably and admirably,” said Deputy Chief Renee Propes. “The community has come to respect and trust her, and the department is better-trained and more aware of LGBT issues thanks to the work she and Officer Sharp have done."
The department has actively recruited members of the LGBT community, and SPO Powell is expected to assist in its continued efforts to diversify its ranks, Propes noted.
The department’s LGBT liaisons’ have a multi-fold mission of improving communications and relationships with the community and the APD LGBT Advisory Board, as well as increasing awareness, training and knowledge of LGBT issues within the department.
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The mission of the Atlanta Police Department is to reduce crime and promote the quality of life, in partnership with our community.