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Dallas Police Chief David Brown is retiring from the Dallas Police Department. His last day on the job will be Oct. 22, according to letter from Brown posted on DPD’s DPDBeat.com blog.
“After much prayer, I am announcing my retirement from the Dallas Police Department after 33 years as a Dallas police officer,” Brown said. “Serving the citizens of Dallas in this noble profession has been both a true honor and a humbling experience.”
Brown joined DPD in 1983, he says in the letter, because of the crack epidemic’s effect on his Oak Cliff neighborhood. In the decades since, he moved up through the ranks of the department, becoming an assistant chief in 2005 and Dallas police chief in 2010.
As chief, Brown won plaudits nationally for his efforts to improve DPD’s community policing and transparency. His leadership after five Dallas cops were killed by a sniper on July 7 won national praise.
Before the shootings, however, Brown was under fire from Dallas’ police unions who blamed the chief for low morale among rank-and-file officers and not doing more to insure that Dallas cops were paid on par with their suburban brethren.
Brown says he won’t be making further comment until a Sept. 8 press conference. For more on the chief check out the Observer’s extensive February interview, as well as our guide to cops in Dallas.
