Oak Ridge police outline changes after Scarborough shooting; plan more foot patrols, mutual-aid coordination

Police Chief Robin Smith told Oak Ridge City Council on Monday the department has revised how it responds to rapidly assembling crowds after a May 25 shooting in the Scarborough neighborhood, and said the department will put more officers on foot, create an on-call system for off-duty officers and coordinate standing mutual-aid with neighboring agencies.

Smith said the department did not call in additional teams when social-media chatter about a crowd began on May 24. With six officers on duty that night, the on-duty supervisor staged officers nearby rather than engaging the gathering, launched a drone to monitor the crowd and contacted Anderson County and Knox County sheriff’s offices to stand by. “There were 4 9 11 calls received, all related to the growing crowd with reports of people carrying firearms,” Smith said. He later told council officers drove into the crowd after shots were fired and “loaded 3 gunshot victims into the police cars, and drove them to where paramedics were waiting to give emergency care.”

The department’s procedural changes include calling in additional teams when credible, corroborated social-media information indicates a crowd is forming, deploying officers on foot rather than driving through groups, launching crowd-control and incident-command refresher training for supervisors, activating the SWAT team if needed and staging mutual-aid resources nearby. Smith also said the department is working to set up standby pay and a digital notification system so off-duty officers can be mobilized immediately.

Council members asked whether future responses will emphasize officers on foot as well as in cars. Smith said, “That is absolutely. We have learned that that is the most critical thing is to get out of the cars, get out on foot, and just talk to people.” He described recent weekend deployments in which officers stayed beyond their scheduled shift to walk sidewalks and speak to people in the Scarborough neighborhood.

Smith said his office is meeting with state and regional partners to coordinate upcoming holiday-weekend policing. “I have a meeting tomorrow … with Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Tennessee Highway Patrol, TBI and attorney general’s office to talk about just what you’re speaking of,” he told council, adding that the sheriff’s office offered deputies to help with processing and transport of prisoners and that the Tennessee Highway Patrol offered personnel for patrols. Smith said the TBI will assist with criminal intelligence and that the attorney general’s office typically sends a liaison on those nights.

City Manager Randy Heaman told council staff had planned a public meeting about the Scarborough incident but postponed it at community request and was working to reschedule a forum where residents can ask questions and offer suggestions. Heaman said the city intends to create a public forum “where anybody that lives in the community that wants to come speak and talk about what happened, ask questions, is free to do so.”

Council members pressed Smith on community engagement and on whether most people involved in the May 25 gathering were from outside Oak Ridge. Smith said preliminary information suggests many were not Scarborough residents: “Our understanding is that these mostly were people not from our community,” he said, while noting the TBI is leading the criminal-investigation witness-identification work.

Why this matters: Council members framed the changes as both a public-safety and community-relations priority, saying more face-to-face officer contact and clearer public updates could help maintain trust while the criminal investigation continues.

The city manager said staff will notify council when the public forum is scheduled. Ending: Smith said the department has held foot patrols on two recent Saturdays and will continue those deployments on upcoming weekends while coordinating mutual aid ahead of July 4 holiday dates.