H*4347 Concurrent Resolution, By G.M. Smith and Weeks
 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR SUMTER CHIEF OF POLICE PATTY
 JAYE GARRETT PATTERSON, UPON THE OCCASION OF HER RETIREMENT FROM THE CITY OF
 SUMTER POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND TO WISH HER CONTINUED SUCCESS AS SHE DIRECTS THE
 PUBLIC SAFETY AND WELFARE OFFICE FOR THE CITY OF SUMTER.

   06/02/11  House  Introduced, adopted, sent to Senate
                     (House Journal-page 64)
   06/15/11  Senate Introduced, adopted, returned with concurrence
                     (Senate Journal-page 3)

TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR SUMTER CHIEF OF POLICE PATTY JAYE GARRETT PATTERSON, UPON THE OCCASION OF HER RETIREMENT FROM THE CITY OF SUMTER POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND TO WISH HER CONTINUED SUCCESS AS SHE DIRECTS THE PUBLIC SAFETY AND WELFARE OFFICE FOR THE CITY OF SUMTER.

Whereas, born in 1960 in Bangor, Maine, Chief Patterson has been a resident of Sumter County since 1973; and

Whereas, in 1979, she became the first African-American employee for the Sumter County Magistrate's Office, and in 1980 she earned an associate of arts from the University of South Carolina; and

Whereas, from 1981 to 1983, she served as a deputy sheriff and a juvenile investigator with the Sumter County Sheriff's Department, and from 1983 to 1985, she served as a criminologist instructor at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy; and

Whereas, for six years, she served as a special agent assigned to criminal investigations with the State Law Enforcement Division, specializing in child-abuse and sexual-assault investigations, and during this time she earned a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies; and

Whereas, from 1991 to 2001, Chief Patterson served the City of Sumter Police Department as the major of operations and the assistant chief of police; and

Whereas, she graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy in 1994, the first female from Sumter City/County Law Enforcement to do so, and she earned a master's degree in criminal justice from the University of South Carolina in 1999; and

Whereas, the recipient of the J.P. Strom Fellowship award in 1998 and 1999, she became the first female chief of police for a metropolitan city in the State of South Carolina and the first African-American chief of police for the City of Sumter when she was appointed by City Manager Talmadge Tobias in 2001; and

Whereas, she is married to Wendell Brunson Patterson of Marion and has one precious ten-year-old daughter, Anastasia; and

Whereas, in the fall of 2011, after two decades with the City of Sumter Police Department, Chief Patterson will transition to the Public Safety and Welfare Office for the City of Sumter as its new director where she will oversee the city's emergency plans for the benefit of general public safety; and

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives are grateful for the standard of excellence that Patty Patterson has brought to the City of Sumter Police Department over the past twenty years in caring for the safety of the citizens of the Palmetto State. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, recognize and honor Sumter Chief of Police Patty Jaye Garrett Patterson, upon the occasion of her retirement from the City of Sumter Police Department, and wish her continued success as she directs the Public Safety and Welfare Office for the City of Sumter.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Patty Jaye Garrett Patterson.