NATCHEZ — Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten announced Friday the formation of an anti-street crime task force and the rebranding of Natchez-Adams Metro Narcotics.

He also announced several promotions at the ACSO.

The new unit, HEAT — the Heavy Enforcement Anti-Crime Team — will focus on street crime. Restructuring within the department — including the elimination of some positions that could be combined — has allowed for its funding, Patten said.

The new name for the Metro unit will be NARC — Natchez Adams Regional Counterdrug Task Force.

“The HEAT team will be dealing with gangs and street-level crimes, including some small-time drug dealers,” Patten said. “The NARCs will be dealing with the higher-level dealers.”

Patten said the renaming of the anti-drug task force comes as part of a deeper revamping of the program, which he said has in recent years become stigmatized in the community.

“Psychologically, ‘Metro’ has run its course, and we have pretty much revamped 90 percent of the unit, and they needed a fresh start to get the stigma off them that came with it,” he said. “At one time, Metro was the go-to unit that everybody wanted to go with, but as time passed, that changed. I wanted these guys to build things thing from the ground up, to give them a whole new start from the beginning.”

Patten also announced Friday that Investigator Jerry Brown will be promoted to the rank of major and will lead ACSO’s investigations. He will replace Maj. Ricky Stevens, who retired after 40 years.

“Jerry has been a loyal employee of the sheriff’s office for 20-something years,” Patten said. “He has worked in the narcotics unit in the past, and has been one of the best investigators the sheriff’s office has ever had. He is a people person; he is extremely good at communicating with folks. He is a person who is extremely articulate and can get things done. That kind of work deserves to be promoted, and his work speaks for itself.”

Sgt. Frank Smith will be promoted to captain to head the HEAT unit.

“Frank is one of the most knowledgeable deputies at this department. He is former Marine, and has worked in narcotics for several years,” Patten said.

“He has been working in law enforcement for 18 years, and it is hard to compete with the drive and passion this man still has for law enforcement. When you have a leader like that, you want that kind of mentality to bleed down to the people under him, and I couldn’t think of a better person to put over that unit. His passion exudes from it. You can see it in his report writing and everything he does.”

Other staffing changes announced Friday include:

Deputies Chris Logan, Matthew Henderson and Roderick Powell were promoted to sergeant.

Investigators Delayne Bush and Stanley Searcy Jr. were promoted to sergeant.

4Victim Assistance Coordinator Karren Ewing has been appointed Neighborhood Watch coordinator.