Chief (Ret.) Kerr Putney served for nearly 30 years with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in Charlotte, North Carolina. For the last five years of his career, he served as the Chief of Police until he retired in July of 2020. Chief Putney has extensive experience as both a trainer and expert assessor on topics of use of force and investigatory stops. He served with the U.S. Secret Service as the team lead for the Democratic National Convention for all event venues in 2012. He led the National Special Security Event (NSSE) as Co-Chair for the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2020. Chief Putney revamped the use of force (Response to Resistance) policy, training, and implementation for his department during his tenure.

Since retiring, Chief Putney has served as an associate monitor for the Virgin Island Police Department for the use of force review team. He served as an expert on use of force case reviews of officer-involved incidents resulting in death for the Metropolitan Police Department with the Bromwich Group in Washington, DC.  He attended the inaugural session of the Police Executive Leadership Institute sponsored by the Major Cities Chiefs Association. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy’s 217^th Session. He attended the Senior Management Institute for Police sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum in Boston, Massachusetts. Chief Putney earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He earned his master’s degree in criminal justice from East Carolina University.