North Texas Daily

Dallas Police Chief David Brown will retire next month from the department just three months after the Dallas shootings.

Brown announced his decision to retire Sept. 1, saying that the last day of his 33-year career at the Dallas Police Department will end on Oct. 22.

“Serving the citizens of Dallas in this noble profession has been both a true honor and a humbling experience,” Brown said in a statement.

Brown gained national attention when 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson shot and killed five Dallas officers, and wounded nine others at the end of what was a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest. The downtown protest against police brutality was in response to the killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, which both occurred just days before.

Officers trapped Johnson inside of El Centro College where he falsely claimed he had planted bombs all over the city, and told police that he was reacting to the resent string of police brutality cases. After a two-hour standoff, police halted negotiations and deployed a robot carrying a bomb into the garage, which killed Johnson upon detonation.

Brown would later go on to say that the department’s decision to use the robot shouldn’t be criticized, because citizens should trust those whose lives are in danger.

“We saw no other object than to use our bomb robot,” Brown said at a press conference the morning of July 8. “Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger.”

Denton Police Officer Ryan Grelle said that the Denton police assisted Dallas after the July 7 shootings. He added that losing a chief is an emotional time for any department.

“For the chief it’s good because they’re moving on, but it’s sad because your leadership is leaving,” Grelle said.

Brown said that he became a Dallas police officer in 1983 because of the crack cocaine epidemic’s impact on his Oak Cliff neighborhood. He said that he wanted to be part of the efforts to fix the growing drug problem.

Brown’s replacement has not yet been announced, but his time with the Dallas Police Department is not something he will forget.

“Officers, your extraordinary service will forever be etched in my heart and will serve as a guidepost for me in the next phase of my life,” he said. “You will always be in my prayers.”

Featured Image: Dallas Police Chief David Brown speaks at a vigil held for the five dead and 11 injured police office who were ambushed on Thursday evening. He spoke words of each officer and gave memories of each. Hundreds of citizens were in attendance for the event. Tomas Gonzalez