David O'Neal Brown (born September 18, 1960) is an American police officer who is currently serving as

Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department The following is a list of heads of the Chicago Police Department. Currently the executive of the Chicago Police Department is referred to as a "Superintendent of Police". Preceding titles included High Constable, City Marshall, General Superint ...

. He was the chief of the

Dallas Police Department The Dallas Police Department, established in 1881, is the principal law enforcement agency serving the city of Dallas, Texas. Organization The department is headed by a chief of police who is appointed by the city manager who, in turn, is hir ...

from 2010 to 2016. He has been widely praised for his reforms designed to reduce violent confrontations between police officers and the community and increase the department's accountability and transparency. He has also been criticized by the local

police union A police union is a trade union for police officers. Police unions formed later than most other occupations, reflecting both a conservative tendency and relatively superior working conditions. The first police unions formed in the United States. Sh ...

for the methods of implementation of some of his policies.

Education

A Dallas native, Brown is a graduate of

South Oak Cliff High School South Oak Cliff High School (colloquially referred to as SOC, pronounced "sock") is a public secondary school located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas, United States. South Oak Cliff High School enrolls students in grades 9- 12 and is a ...

and attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

before enrolling in the Dallas police academy, originally with the intention of becoming a prosecutor.Scott Goldstein, ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

''
"Dallas Police Chief David Brown is a private man in a most public job"
TXCN, May 23, 2010
Archive.org
at the

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, June 30, 2010. He earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

from

Dallas Baptist University Dallas Baptist University (DBU) is a Christian liberal arts university in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1898 as Decatur Baptist College, Dallas Baptist University currently operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Hurst. History Dallas Baptist Uni ...

, in 1999 and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Amberton University Amberton University is a private Evangelical Christian university in Garland, Texas. It began as part of Abilene Christian University as an extension campus from 1971 until 1982 and was initially located in Mesquite, Texas, moving to Garland i ...

, in 2001Scott Goldstein
"Hometown cop David Brown is accessible to residents but stern with those under his command"
''

'', April 1, 2010, updated November 26, 2010. and graduated from the

FBI National Academy The FBI National Academy is a program of the FBI Academy for active U.S. law enforcement personnel and also for international law enforcement personnel who seek to enhance their credentials in their field and to raise law enforcement standards, kno ...

and the FBI National Executive Institute, the Senior Management Institute for Police, the National Counter-Terrorism Seminar in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, and the

United States Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

dignitary protection seminar. He is certified by the State of Texas as a master peace officer and a police instructor.

Career

Dallas Police Department

After joining the Dallas Police Department in 1983, Brown worked in patrol divisions, SWAT, and internal affairs.Frank Heinz
"Dallas Has a New Top Cop: David Brown sworn in at 3 p.m. Tuesday"

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

DFW, May 4, 2010. He became first assistant chief of police in 2005; in 2007–08, he served as assistant city manager. He was appointed police chief in April 2010 and sworn into office on May 4, 2010.Scott Goldstein
"Retired Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle has left the building — with his margarita machine"; "Update: David Brown sworn in as Dallas police chief"
, crime blog, ''

'', May 4, 2010. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported that Brown has "earned a national reputation as a progressive leader whose top priority is improving relations and reducing distrust between the police department and the city’s minority residents." He has advocated reducing the use of force and discouraged chasing suspects in cars and even by foot, since such chases often lead to fatalities. According to published reporting, he also has a reputation as a "tough boss" and has fought with the local police union over his emphasis on less-confrontational strategies and his willingness to fire officers, often publicly. He has also sought to increase transparency by equipping officers with

body cameras A body camera, bodycam, body worn video (BWV), body-worn camera, or wearable camera is a wearable audio, video, or photographic recording system. Body cameras have a range of uses and designs, of which the best-known use is as a part of poli ...

and sought to reform training on the use of lethal force. It has also been reported that some African American residents still feel they are subject to discrimination by the police. Brown was chief during the 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers that killed five police officers and injured nine others and two civilians. He made the choice to use

C-4 explosive C-4 or Composition C-4 is a common variety of the plastic explosive family known as Composition C, which uses RDX as its explosive agent. C-4 is composed of explosives, plastic binder, plasticizer to make it malleable, and usually a marker or odo ...

delivered by a robot to kill the shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, who was heavily armed and secured behind a brick corner with no safe way for police to rush Johnson or reach him with a sniper. The killing of Johnson was the first time in United States history a robot was used by police to deliver lethal force against a suspect. On September 1, 2016, Brown announced that he would be retiring from the Dallas Police Department on October 22, 2016. Despite being the longest serving police chief in recent decades, he gave no reason for his retirement only about 7 weeks after the Dallas police shootings, but the mayor and city manager both said that he was not forced out of office. Brown subsequently moved up his retirement date to October 4, 2016 to better coordinate dates with an upcoming pension board meeting. In 2017 Brown's memoir, ''Called To Rise: A Life in Faithful Service to the Community That Made Me'', was published by

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...

Chicago Police Department

On April 2, 2020, Brown was nominated to be

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

of the

Chicago Police Department The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind t ...

by Chicago Mayor

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American attorney and politician serving since 2019 as the 56th mayor of Chicago. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as ...

. He took over as acting Superintendent on April 15, after his predecessor

Charlie Beck Charles Lloyd Beck (born June 27, 1953) is a retired police officer, formerly serving as the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and subsequently as the Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. A veteran of the department ...

, who held the position on an interim basis after the dismissal of

Eddie T. Johnson Eddie T. Johnson (born July 28, 1960) is an American retired police officer for the Chicago Police Department. He served as the 62nd Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department from March 2016 until December 2019. Early life and education ...

, stepped down. His nomination was unanimously approved by

Chicago City Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms. The council is gaveled into session regularly, usually mont ...

and he was sworn in on April 22.

Personal life

Brown is married to former Dallas police sergeant Cedonia Brown. In 1988, his police academy classmate,

U.S Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

veteran of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, and former partner Walter Williams was fatally shot in the line of duty. In 1991, his younger brother, Kelvin, was killed by drug dealers in the Phoenix area. On June 20, 2010, his 27-year-old son, David Brown Jr., who suffered from

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

, according to media reports and had only a minor prior record involving a marijuana arrest, shot and killed 23-year-old Jeremy McMillian and 37-year-old

Lancaster, Texas Lancaster ( ) is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. Its population was 41,275 according to the 2020 census. Founded in 1852 as a frontier post, Lancaster is one of Dallas County's earliest settlements. Today, it is a suburban communit ...

police officer Craig Shaw. Brown was fatally shot more than a dozen times in the ensuing

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

with officers responding to the scene. The Dallas County medical examiner's autopsy reported the presence of PCP in Brown's bloodstream.Tanya Eiserer
"Autopsy finds PCP in bloodstream of Dallas police chief's son"
''Dallas Morning News'', June 30, 2010, updated November 26, 2010.

References

External links

Former Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown Selected as the Criminal Justice Newsmaker of 2016

John Jay College of Criminal Justice The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts c ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, David 1960 births African-American police officers Amberton University alumni FBI National Academy graduates Living people Dallas Baptist University alumni Chiefs of the Dallas Police Department People from Dallas University of Texas at Austin alumni Superintendents of the Chicago Police Department 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 21st-century American memoirists African-American memoirists