Chief Estella Patterson’s plan to rebuild trust and safety in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One week after being sworn in as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s first female chief, Estella Patterson says her focus is on rebuilding trust, reducing violent crime and filling hundreds of officer vacancies.

Patterson returned to Charlotte after serving as police chief in Raleigh, where the department saw two consecutive years of declining violent crime and a significant reduction in staffing shortages.

“When the opportunity presented itself to come back home, it was a no-brainer for me. When Chief Jennings announced his retirement, I said, wow, it would be nice to be able to come back,” she said.

Patterson began her career with CMPD in 1996 as a recruit and later rose to deputy chief. She said service has always guided her career.

“I served in the military for nine years. Growing up, I liked to babysit and serve others and help. That’s always been the person who I am,” she said.

The department is short nearly 200 officers, a gap Patterson says affects both public safety and officer wellness.

“Right now, we’re down significant number of officers, almost 200 officers,” she said. “That is difficult to be able to do the work of serving the community adequately. So we really want to work to to fill those gaps, make sure that we fill those vacancies as much as possible.” 

Patterson said low staffing affects morale and leads to burnout.

“When you’re short like that, your employees are telling you we’re tired or running from call to call. We can’t take adequate vacation time. And because wellness is so important to me, it is crucial that we get our staffing levels to where we have that flexibility to be able to do things so people can take time off,” she said.

Addressing violent crime is another priority, particularly following recent stabbings on Charlotte’s light rail system. While CMPD reports violent crime is down overall, Patterson said the department must remain proactive.

“It’s so unfortunate those incidents that happen and, you know, coming in and seeing that, it is disturbing to see, but also to it is important that we’re taking proactive steps. And I feel that we’re working very closely with CATS to do that,” she said, referring to the Charlotte Area Transit System. “One of the things I really want to work on as a department is bringing all our partners in. We can’t do this work in silos.”

Patterson emphasized that isolated incidents should not discourage residents from using public transportation.

“I mean, we have not seen where it’s every time you get on the light rail, there’s an incident or every time you’re on a CATS bus kind of thing,” she said. “I think we just have to put it in perspective.”

When asked what success looks like after her first year in office, Patterson said community trust will be key.

“One, that we rebuilt trust with the community, so that they can feel safe,” she said. “That will be really important.”

Patterson added that increasing officer visibility is closely tied to residents feeling safer across Charlotte.

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