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The City of Franklin Police Department announced Thursday, Dec. 12, that Steve Patterson will be retiring as its chief effective Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025.

Patterson has served as chief of the FPD since August 2019.

“I think, as a person, we always have to advance ourselves as much as we can, and we always need to be looking to the next opportunity and the next chapter in life, and this is the next chapter,” he said. “I think it’s time for retirement.”

He noted that he thinks there comes a time when people need to know it is time to move on.

“Now’s the time for me to move on,” he said. “I feel like the agency is in a good spot, I feel like the personnel are good and sound, and I feel like they’re doing a great job for the city, and hopefully they will continue to do that.”

Patterson, who will soon be 54, has served 32-and-a-half years and counting in law enforcement, getting his start in 1992 when he worked at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail. After working there for two years, he joined the Suffolk Police Department in 1994 and worked there until 2019, advancing from patrol officer all the way to deputy chief of operations during his time there.

The FPD represented Patterson’s first opportunity to serve as chief of a police department.

He took some time in a Friday, Dec. 13, interview to highlight the department’s achievements during his time as chief that he is most proud of.

“No. 1, I think we have a phenomenal staff,” he said. “Agencies are having a hard time recruiting, hard time retaining, and I feel like the men and women we’ve hired and have put in place, from the ones that were here when I got here to the ones that we’ve put in place since, I feel like do a phenomenal job, and I’m very proud of what they do day in and day out. So I think staffing is the first big thing.

“Then the next thing I think is we’ve worked very hard to improve the fleet of police vehicles that we have,” he continued. “When I got here, we had cars that were roughly in the neighborhood of 10 years old with 130,000-some miles on them, and they were getting to the end of a service life that they weren’t good for policing anymore. So we were able to work with (Former City) Manager (Amanda) Jarratt and through some grants, and we were able to get some vehicles. That was very good.”

He said another thing that he is very proud of is how the department has advanced technologically.

“We’ve added license plate readers and we’ve got surveillance cameras on different areas throughout the city, and I think it’s been a force multiplier for us, several fronts of things that we’ve been working on,” he said.

“And then the final thing I’d say is — this goes back to my men and women — the efforts they’ve put toward community policing and trying to be a police force that is open to working with the community and not closed to it,” he said. “So I am very proud of the fact that they have taken it upon themselves to make partnerships and relationships with the citizens and businesses that they serve.”

Among Patterson’s staff is Deputy Chief Robert Porti, who will lead the department during the transition as interim chief of police.

Though Patterson is retiring from one job, he will soon be taking on another. Shortly after Jan. 1, Patterson will be going to work at the Port of Virginia as a police captain.

But he will not be a stranger to the Franklin community.

“I’ll still be local, and it’s my intention to still come to Franklin and shop, eat, attend events,” he said. “I think this is a wonderful community. I’ve been very pleased at several of the events that I’ve attended and even some of the events I’ve worked, honestly. I think Fall Fest and Spring Fest are awesome. I think the Thursday night events are neat. The Halloween 5K, I was really stoked about that. I’m hoping to participate next year. I think there’s a lot of good stuff going on in Franklin, and I hope to come back and enjoy it.”