Boyd Patterson, coordinator of the City of Chattanooga Gang Task Force, answers questions regarding the center’s comprehensive gang report.Chattanooga’s gang task force will be dismantled when Mayor-elect Andy Berke takes office, task force coordinator Boyd Patterson said Friday.
Patterson said he was notified Friday afternoon by Berke’s chief of staff-to-be, Travis McDonough.
“He was very polite. He thanked Fred [Houser, the task force outreach coordinator] and me for our service but advised us the new administration was going in a different direction,” Patterson said.
He and Houser were asked along with other department heads to submit resignation letters as of Friday, but both had hoped to stay on after Berke takes office April 15.
Berke had hinted in the months running up to the March 5 election that he might take a new tack in the battle against crime. He chose his words carefully when asked about his views on the task force and anti-gang strategies.