Clarkesville Police Chief Brad Barrett is looking for a change. After 29 years on the force—23 of which were spent with the Clarkesville Police Department—he has resigned.
On April 2, Chief Barrett turned in his resignation letter to Clarkesville City Manager Keith Dickerson.
“I’m leaving because it feels like the right time,” he tells Now Habersham.
Barrett is considering a possible move to the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office, where he would serve under the likely incoming Sheriff Robin Krockum. Despite the rumors surrounding his pending departure, he says he still hasn’t decided where he will go.
“I’m entertaining the idea,” he says of a move up the hill in Clarkesville to the sheriff’s office, “but I’m not fully committed yet.”
Time for a change
Barrett may not know where he’s going yet —or at least, he’s not divulging it—but he is clear on why he is leaving.
“I’m not leaving because of anything to do with Clarkesville. I love Clarkesville! I love the people I work with. I’ve had great councils, great city managers, and a great community to work with through the years, but I just want to try something different. I don’t know officially what that is yet,” he says.
Now Habersham reached out to Clarkesville City Manager Keith Dickerson and Mayor Barrie Aycock for comment, but they were not immediately available. Barrett says he did not give them a date for when he will resign.
“I’m going to stay as long as they need me to,” he says.
Barrett joined the Clarkesville Police Department near the turn of the century and was named chief a few short years into his tenure.
“I’ve been fortunate to have a great crew. It’s never been that I did it,” he says, “we did it. We’ve always worked together as a team, and we are in it for no other reason than to make the community safer.”
As he prepares to depart, the Chief adds, “I think that trend’s going to continue with the people they’ve got, and that’s what I’m going to miss. I love my staff.”
