Chief Buttrey obtained a $40,000 grant from the United States Department of Justice’s Law Enforcement Assistance Administration to purchase and equip two patrol cars and radio equipment. Three officers were hired and the Brentwood Police Department began full time patrol on April 1, 1971.   At that time there was only one officer patrolling each of the day's three shifts.

In the beginning, there was not a 911 Communications Center.  The Berry Hill Police Department and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department dispatched Brentwood officers until Brentwood's first police headquarters opened in 1974.   It was located in a small building in the back of an Exxon station near where Franklin Road and Town Center Way is now located.  In 1976, headquarters moved to a small building located at the end of Harpeth Drive and again in 1979 to Wilson Pike Circle.    Up until 2021, the Brentwood Police operated out of the Brentwood City Hall location at 5211 Maryland Way in Maryland Farms.   In April 2021, the city celebrated the opening of the new Brentwood Police Headquarters at 910 Heritage Way.   

There have only been three Chief of Police in the history of the department.  Chief Howard Buttrey retired in 2000 and Captain Ricky Watson was appointed to lead.   Chief Watson retired in 2012 at which time  Jeff Hughes was named Chief.   Today, the department has more than 60  sworn officers and close to 20 civilian personnel.

National Accreditation

Under Buttrey’s leadership the department became internationally accredited through The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. in 1989 and remains the most tenured agency in Tennessee to be accredited.  The Department proudly maintains its internationally recognized accredited status, having been re-accredited ten times, most recently in 2021.