Captain Brett Patterson joined the West Palm Beach Police Department in 1984. He first served as a uniformed Patrol Officer and within two years was chosen to be a Field Training Officer serving in that capacity for the next eight years. In 1994, Patterson was selected to the Criminal Apprehension Team (CAT), a street-level narcotics unit. During that stint the unit confiscated $1.2 million dollars during a bus interdiction which was used to purchase the Police Department's first helicopter. In 1996, after returning to patrol Patterson was selected to conduct process re-engineering for the Code Enforcement Unit as part of an international project facilitated by the Police Executive Research Forum and Motorola.

For the next three years Patterson created a variety of innovative programs and competitively received state and federal grants while assigned to Support Services. This function has followed Patterson through the ranks and various assignments. To date Patterson has received in excess of thirty grants totaling six million dollars which has funded twenty-six new police officer positions, volunteer coordinator, public safety guides, assistant dispatch manager positions, video cameras for patrol vehicles, overtime initiatives, patrol bicycles, officers laptops/pc's, COMPSTAT equipment, AFIS system, mobile field force equipment and most recently a mobile precinct amongst many others.

In 1998, Patterson was promoted to Sergeant and supervised the Records Section. In 2000, Patterson was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to Planning and Research. Six months later Patterson was appointed to Captain and became the commander of Staff Services managing recruitment, training, and promotions.

In 2002 Patterson was re-assigned to the Chief of Police and served as his liaison until his retirement. During this time period Patterson developed the COMPSTAT, CitizenCorp and Diversity Study Circle programs for the Department.

In October 2004 Patterson was assigned as the commander of Support Services managing the operations of the Records, Budget, Evidence, Court Liaison and Crime Analyst personnel. In October 2005 Patterson was appointed by the Chief of Police to the newly created position of Critical Services Bureau Administrator. This position encompasses all his existing responsibilities inclusive of the forty-nine employees of Dispatch Operations. In 2007 Patterson spearheaded the acquisition and installation of the Citycam wireless camera project for the City. In March 2008 the Dispatch Operations Center achieved national CALEA accreditation, the first in Palm Beach County, one of only five in the State of Florida and amongst only 52 in the nation.

Captain Patterson is a graduate of the University of South Florida where he received a BA Degree in Criminal Justice in 1984. Patterson attended the Administrative Officers Course of the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville in 2002. In 2004, Patterson was appointed to a distinguished six-month research fellowship at the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in Washington, DC. He made significant contributions to a number of national-scope projects, including: PERF’s Assessment of The Use of TASERS; and, Police Management of Mass Demonstrations. Both of these projects resulted in publications currently in use throughout law enforcement ( Chief Concerns – Police Management of Mass Demonstrations, 2006 and Conducted Energy Devices: Development of Standards for Consistency and Guidance, 2006). Patterson also attended the Senior Management Institute for Policing in Boston in June 2008. Captain Patterson obtained certification as a Use of Force Certified Litigant Specialist in January 2009. Captain Patterson currently teaches a variety of seminars and serves as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice on Conducted energy Devices.