Morale among Dallas police officers has been poor during the six-year tenure of Chief David Brown, but officers have changed their tune on Brown’s leadership after a gunman killed four of his cops, reports the Dallas Morning News. “If I sent out a morale survey tomorrow, it would be completely flipped,” said Police Association president Ron Pinkston. “It would have 95 percent in strong support of Chief Brown.” Resentment of Brown’s management, which caused officer associations to publicly call for the chief’s ouster twice in less than a year, still lingers on the back burner among the rank and file.
Officers were weary of Brown’s constantly shifting their schedules and assignments and the department’s ever-changing strategies to combat a rising violent crime rate. They believed the chief was vindictive and dictatorial, and that he played favorites. They held a grudge after he fired an officer, who was later reinstated, over a fight with a panhandler. Many have been leaving for better pay in other North Texas cities. Now, association vice president Frederick Frazier, once one of the chief’s harshest critics , said Brown’s handling of the ambush aftermath “will be his legacy.” Another veteran officer said he wasn’t a fan of Brown’s previously but has come around. “It’s good to see the cop in Brown that was always there come out,” he said. “We needed a leader.”