When Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke takes the oath of office for a second term later this month, he'll find himself in the same position he was in shortly after taking the oath for the first time - searching for a new police chief.
On Friday, Police Chief Fred Fletcher, 49, announced he would retire when his contract is up in July. Shortly after the mayor took office in April 2013, then-Police Chief Bobby Dodd told him about the approaching retirement deadlines of much of his command staff. Then, that December, Dodd told the mayor he would be leaving later that month.
By the time Dodd announced his retirement, Berke was well on his way to implementing his Violence Reduction Initiative - on which he had campaigned - that emphasized more community engagement but also a significant hammer for violent criminals.
Fletcher, who was a commander and a 20-year veteran of the police force in Austin, Texas, was picked specifically for his interest in community policing and for his use of some of the principles in the High Point Initiative model of the Violence Reduction Initiative.
According to Times Free Press archives, he was selected from 77 candidates, including six internal ones.
When the Violence Reduction Initiative is referred to now by Berke, city officials and police, it is downplayed to the cliché of "another tool in the toolbox."
That may be because shootings involving gang members rose after adoption of the initiative and have not decreased after more than $1 million has been spent on the program. And the overall number of homicides in the city this year - nine - matches the same number at this time last year.
Instead, in January, it was announced by the Chattanooga Police Department that the number of people working full time on gang and gun violence would be doubled from 20 to 40 and the street crime unit would be turned into a dedicated gang unit.
Berke also has put more emphasis on new technology to combat crime, including the Real Time Intelligence Center, Crime Eye public safety cameras, a new field-based reporting system, digital data warehouse and use of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.
Fletcher, meanwhile, has been a very visible chief, not only willing to engage community groups but to be on the scene after a crime occurs.
He also has had the misfortune to have had the reins in Chattanooga both when unwarranted scrutiny was put on police everywhere after a number of high-profile police shootings across the country and during a time of multiple tragedies in the city, including the July 2015 terrorist attack in which five service members were killed, the June 2015 tractor trailer crash on Interstate 75 that claimed six and the November 2016 Woodmore bus crash in which six students lost their lives.
Overall, we believe the departing chief, regardless of the homicide and gang shooting numbers, has moved the department forward and overseen a modernization of techniques. And he at 49, too young to officially retire, is likely to be snapped up by another police department.
We don't know what Berke will have in mind for the next chief - a technology whiz, a local gang specialist, a retiree from another department with a record of success, or what - but we hope we'll be able to say the same about the next chief at the end of his tenure.