Brown returns to Menifee PD on short-term assignment

Menifee Police Department vehicles rolled out for the first time on July 1. Photo courtesy of Menifee PD

Dave Brown, who served as Menifee’s interim director of safety for 18 months prior to the launch of the Menifee Police Department, is returning to city employment on a limited special assignment.

The previous employment agreement for Brown, a former Hemet Chief of Police, expired on July 1 – the day Menifee PD took over law enforcement in the city under Police Chief Pat Walsh. On Wednesday, the City Council approved a limited-duration agreement for Brown through Dec. 31.

According to a staff report presented to council members, Brown will be tasked with the following short-term assignments:

1. Create a Civil Action Program to target low-level offenders and ‘quality of life’ crimes in Menifee
  -- Draft city ordinance to address chronic nuisance properties
  -- Draft city ordinance to address ‘quality of life’ offenses
  -- Create process for the issuance of Administrative Citations to include required appeals process, fine collection and follow up

2. Establish and Implement the Menifee Police Volunteer Program
  -- Establish policy and guidelines for hiring and training volunteers
 -- Work with division lieutenants to identify priority functions for volunteers
 -- Develop a recruiting and on-boarding process for volunteers
 -- Facilitate the first wave of volunteer on-boarding

3. Establish and Implement the Menifee Police Reserve Officer Program  and create policy and guidelines for reserve officer program
  -- Prepare staff work for city council authorization of Reserve Police Officer Classification
  -- Facilitate POST approval of Menifee Reserve Officer Program
  -- Facilitate recruiting and on-boarding of first wave of Reserve Police Officers

The agreement calls for a pay schedule of $80.04 per hour. Funding is available without additional impact to the city budget because of salary savings from funded Menifee PD positions that were not filled at the start of the fiscal year. The agreement with Brown is not to exceed $80,000.

“This specialized work would have been completed prior to July 1 had the department not been hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the staff report states. “Mr. Brown possesses the specialized experience and specific skills necessary to complete the short-term assignments prior to December 31, 2020.”