David O'Neal Brown is an American police officer who is currently serving as Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. He was the chief of the Dallas Police Department 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 for the methods of implementation of some of his policies.
After joining the Dallas Police Department in 1983, Brown worked in patrol divisions, SWAT, and internal affairs. 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. The New York Times 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 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 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.
On April 2, 2020, Brown was nominated to be Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. He took over as acting Superintendent on April 15, after his predecessor Charlie Beck, who held the position on an interim basis after the dismissal of Eddie T. Johnson, stepped down. His nomination was unanimously approved by Chicago City Council and he was sworn in on April 22.
Family
Brown is married to former Dallas police sergeant Cedonia Brown. 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, 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 police officer Craig Shaw. Brown was fatally shot more than a dozen times in the ensuing shootout with officers responding to the scene. The Dallas County medical examiner's autopsy reported the presence of PCP in Brown's bloodstream.
