Dallas police chief called to serve

By CNS News | July 13, 2016, 6:14 EDT

Dallas Police Chief David Brown answers questions during a news conference, Monday, July 11, 2016, in Dallas. Five police officers were killed and several injured during a shooting in downtown Dallas last week. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

(CNSNews.com) – Dallas Police Chief David Brown told CNN’s “State of the Union with Jake Tapper” that he is “a person of faith” and a Christian, who enjoys serving people.

“I am a servant. And at my core, I enjoy serving people, and I am a person of faith. I am a Christian, and I believe that service is part of my direction, and loving people, despite themselves, is something I aspire to be. I am flawed, though, like many of us,” said Brown.

Tapper asked Brown about his personal story, which Tapper called “rather extraordinary.”

“You have lost your partner, a former partner of yours, to gun violence, your brother to gun violence. And just weeks after you became the leader of the Dallas Police Department in 2010, your son — pardon me — your son fatally shot a police officer and another man, before being killed in a confrontation with police. How do you think these experiences have shaped the way you faced the horrific events of this week?” Tapper asked.

“First of all, I came into law enforcement in 1983 as a result of the crack cocaine epidemic in my own neighborhood. I grew up in the poor areas of Dallas. I am an inner-city kid, and I really appreciate my experiences growing up here, and this city has embraced me as its police chief,” said Brown.

“And I have always felt a sense of urgency about delivering police service, but I never wanted this job to be about me, then or now. I am a servant. and at my core, I enjoy serving people, and I am a person of faith. I am a Christian, and I believe that service is part of my direction, and loving people, despite themselves, is something I aspire to be,” he added.

“I am flawed, though, like many of us, but I can tell you right now, you know, I’m not going to have a long conversation about me on this broadcast or any others. This is going to be about the men and women in blue who sacrifice their lives every day and these families planning four funerals,” Brown said, adding that he wanted to spend time talking about what he learned about the officers who gave their lives during the shooting massacre in Dallas last week.

“They’re brave. They’re courageous. They did things that day that are just hard to describe. We’re learning that officers exposed themselves to draw fire, so they could determine what floor this suspect was on, exposed themselves,” Brown said.

“And you saw footage of officers running toward gunfire, extraordinary acts of bravery, countless officers returning fire, knowing that they’re vulnerable to try to get to wounded and injured citizens and officers to get them rushed to the hospital to try to save their lives, and just the brave men and women who have worked every day,” he said.

Brown said that the day after the five police officers were gunned down by Micah Johnson, a black Army veteran who told police he wanted to kill white officers, Brown noticed that everyone came to work.

“The day after this incident occurred, I look at the daily rolls to see who comes to work. Everyone came to work the next day. Who does that, Jake? In the face of their lives being at stake the previous day, you would think you would have some call in and say, maybe that’s not for me. Everyone came to work that next day,” Brown said, adding that he is “proud to be associated with these people.”

“I stay humble, and so I’m not going to talk much about me. I think you said much about my story, and I think it speaks for itself, and I hope that I have done a good enough job to represent these brave men and women. That’s been the challenge for me. Am I representing them appropriately? So, I am really, really, really not wanting to — any of this to be about me, Jake, and I hope you can appreciate that,” Brown said.

— Written by Melanie Hunter