New Knox County Sheriff Brent Gibson used his very first day in office to fire a deputy who had been at the center of a years-long controversy over uncertified officers carrying out police duties. Eric Edlin, a former reserve captain appointed by former Sheriff Tom Spangler, was let go this week, and he says he plans to sue.
Gibson was sworn in on September 1 at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, closing out Spangler's eight-year, term-limited run as sheriff, according to WIVK-FM. Within hours, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel, Gibson fired Edlin, whose file includes a 2021 armed raid on a South Knoxville business carried out while he lacked police certification. Reporter Tyler Whetstone, writing for the Knoxville News Sentinel, detailed the dismissal and Edlin's winding path through the department.
A Deputy Who Never Quite Finished the Academy
Edlin's route into law enforcement was unusual from the start. He worked as a jailer early in his career and resigned from that role after less than a year, per the same reporting. He later started and sold a lawn care business and worked for a crane operating company and a heavy hauling company before returning to the Sheriff's Office, where Spangler appointed him a reserve captain and he went on to serve as a deputy without police certification.
Spangler said in December 2024 that Edlin would attend a police academy in February, but the article notes his academy attendance was delayed until fall 2025, when he finally completed his required training. Once he graduated, Edlin became a full-time officer, and that promotion effectively ended his status as captain — the article notes he was no longer a captain after becoming a full-time officer.
Two Protective Orders and a State Apology
Edlin was also the target of two orders of protection filed by women who alleged he threatened to kill them, the report states. The second of those orders could have prevented him from serving as a law enforcement officer at all without Spangler's intervention, according to the same account.
The 2021 raid resurfaced as a flashpoint separate from those protective orders. Knox News reported that Edlin was one of two armed Sheriff's Office employees who took part in that raid without police certification, and that reporting triggered a state investigation by the Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission. That commission found the employees performed police duties without the required training, echoing an earlier acknowledgment: Spangler apologized to state officials in December 2024 over uncertified appointees' armed raids.
Merit Rules Give the New Sheriff Wide Latitude
KCSO spokesperson Justin Pratt confirmed Edlin's firing in an email to Knox News, saying Edlin's employment ended because he had not completed the required one-year probationary period, and that his tenure was ended according to merit system policy. Under the Knox County Merit System manual, the sheriff can fire an employee during that probationary period either for cause or simply because it serves the best interest of the office — and Edlin's dismissal is not subject to appeal.
Edlin disputes the official framing. He said he was told his services were no longer needed, and he alleges the firing was actually retaliation tied to a personal connection: Gibson's wife and Edlin's ex-wife are close, according to Edlin's account relayed by the Knoxville News Sentinel. He now plans to file a federal lawsuit against the Knox County Sheriff's Office over the dismissal.
A Department Already Under Scrutiny
This isn't Edlin's first entanglement with federal litigation tied to KCSO. A civil rights lawsuit, Browder v. Knox County, Tennessee et al, was filed in January 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, naming Knox County, Edlin, and another deputy as defendants over official conduct, according to GovInfo records.
Gibson takes command of one of East Tennessee's largest law enforcement agencies, with roughly 1,000 personnel and a public safety budget near $212.8 million, per Compass. He brings more than 25 years inside the agency himself, having served as Assistant Chief Deputy, SWAT Team Commander, and Director of Training at the regional academy before retiring in 2024, according to his campaign site, Elect Brent Gibson. He won the Republican nomination in May with 19,672 votes, or 44.14%, in a four-way primary against three former law enforcement officials, per farragutpress, and faced no Democratic opponent in the general election.
Gibson inherits an office still absorbing fallout from a joint TBI and FBI investigation that led to grand jury indictments of 11 current and former KCSO employees on felony theft and conspiracy charges in May, as Hoodline previously reported. Spangler had placed five active staffers on unpaid leave in response. The day before Gibson took office, the Knox County Commission voted unanimously to ban automated license plate readers over transparency concerns tied to KCSO's earlier surveillance contracts, according to WBIR.
Taken together, Edlin's firing lands as the first visible signal of how Gibson intends to run the department differently than his predecessor, who had defended keeping uncertified appointees on staff as recently as March 2024, arguing such appointments operated at the sheriff's personal discretion. Whether that signal holds up may depend on what comes of Edlin's threatened lawsuit.
