Wow talk about overkill. You have to ask yourself why would Brown want our job as he was just promoted last year. I suggest that everyone read this article about another town that decided not to pick Brown back in 2008. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/08/05/20080805chiefsearch0805.html

Hey maybe we can get the white house chief of staff to be the next city administrator :)

They also didn't mention that he got the city of Chicago sued for $500,000 for a raid he authorized where they entered Stateway Gardens and searched over 200 people without a warrant.

http://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/122003crpap

If anyone does just a little bit of research on Mr Ernest T Brown, you will find that there are some red flags. First of all, his application for Buckeye Arizona Police Chief in 2008 was found to have errors in it...he listed his position as Assistant Deputy Superintendent when he had in fact been demoted to Lieutenant. Mr Brown claimed that it was an error caused by submitting numerous applications and he must have sent an old version of his resume to Buckeye Arizona. Buckeye Arizona also noted several other personal, professional and financial issues associated with Mr. Brown. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/08/05/20080805chiefsearch0805.html If you do a little more research you can find several lawsuits where Mr. Brown was the defendant which can be found on the Cook County Circuit Clerk website. https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/FindDock.asp?NCase=&SearchType=2&Database=2&case_no=&PLtype=2&sname=ernest+brown&CDate= https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/FindDock.asp?NCase=&SearchType=2&Database=4&case_no=&PLtype=2&sname=ernest+t+brown&CDate= There also was the major case regarding illegal search and seizure which cost the City of Chicago $500,000 where Mr. Brown was the Commanding Officer in charge.

I'm not going to say anything bad about Mr. Brown because I don't know him, I'm just a little disappointed with more Cook County people coming in to work for Darien. We all know how things work in Cook County. I hope Mr. Brown does well at the Darien PD but I was looking at application and something caught my eye. Lauren could you look into why Mr. Brown turned in his application dated July 20th, 2011 when the deadline was July 8th, 2011. I just hope everything was handled the way it was suppose to, thanks Lauren.

If anyone does just a little bit of research on Mr Ernest T Brown, you will find that there are some red flags. First of all, his application for Buckeye Arizona Police Chief in 2008 was found to have errors in it...he listed his position as Assistant Deputy Superintendent when he had in fact been demoted to Lieutenant. Mr Brown claimed that it was an error caused by submitting numerous applications and he must have sent an old version of his resume to Buckeye Arizona. Buckeye Arizona also noted several other personal, professional and financial issues associated with Mr. Brown. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/08/05/20080805chiefsearch0805.html If you do a little more research you can find several lawsuits where Mr. Brown was the defendant which can be found on the Cook County Circuit Clerk website. https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/FindDock.asp?NCase=&SearchType=2&Database=2&case_no=&PLtype=2&sname=ernest+brown&CDate= https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/FindDock.asp?NCase=&SearchType=2&Database=4&case_no=&PLtype=2&sname=ernest+t+brown&CDate= There also was the major case regarding illegal search and seizure which cost the City of Chicago $500,000 where Mr. Brown was the Commanding Officer in charge.

All I can say is...wow - looks like CPD's loss is Darien's Loss

http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/2011/09/dteb-to-darien.html

I am disappointed that when you search his name on the interenet, there is so much baggage attached to him. I don't understand how someone with that could have made to the finalists in Darien. I would bet other City employees would have been tossed right away with that baggage. I had to look twice, Downtown Earnie Brown or Dirty Earnie Brown - I thought I was looking at a new Jeff Dunham character.

I too am very disappointed since they had 140 applicants and this is the best person. I believe this is a slap in the face of the citizens and should not be tolerated. The citizens need to remember this at election time and vote each and every council member out of office staring new with people will actually take the interest of the citizens into account.

Darien Residents....Now is the time, yet again, to speak out and let your voice be heard. There is little time since the vote is on Monday, but call/email/contact your alderman and let them know how you feel. Show up at the meeting as we did in May/June and let your voices be heard. The results of our actions in May/June led to the change from appointing Mr. Vana to the duties of chief. We can do it again.

Josh, what's even more frightening about the results of that 2001 case is that Mr. Brown ordered his officers into that gym to violate the civil rights of those citizens. He did that as a police commander and will now be a chief. I for one, as a Darien Resident, do not want to see "Darien Police Violate Civil Rights by Order of the Chief" on the front page of the Chicago newspapers.

We don't need more of Cook Cnty's problems and morality brought to Darien. We should endeavor to bring integrity along with knowledge to our town. I agree his experience is invaluable but lets start fresh.

How many chances do we need to give Mayor Weaver to "hand pick" her chief? She apparently has something against the police department and it shows. We don't need to get rid of Mr. Brown (maybe we do) but we need to get rid of Mayor Weaver.

I hate to say it folks but it appears that the Mayor has made her mind up and Brown is her choice.

Here's why its' important to email and call your alderman AND attend on Monday evening (if you can). He's NOT the chief, yet! 'Til now the mayor has pretty much shut the aldermen out of the search. BUT ... in Darien, mayoral appointments are with the "advice and consent" of the council. The council must approve (with a majority vote) any permanent appointments.
The aldermen should be upset that they are being asked to confirm a candidate that they haven't interviewed. A call, and email and your attendance should convince them that we are ALL upset with such bad decisions. If they have your support (and with the games our mayor plays) it should be easy for them to vote NO.

I am sure that nobody on the 5 member blue ribbon panel that selected our new chief were Weaver political contributors in anyway shape or form ..... reading that policeman's blog (linked above) was nothing less than horrifying - holy cow

Why wasn't one of the Deputy Chiefs given the job, as they know the City? Why are we giving the job to someone from Chicago? The best option to me is to save the taxpayers money, and not wasting it paying another person. Does the city need 2 Deputy Chiefs?

A concerned citizen.

To Mike: I think you may be missing the beauty of Patch. On Friday when I read the article about the appointment of a new police chief, I anticipated the community involvement that we are seeing on the Patch site. We all new to turn to Patch to see what other Darien citizens are thinking about the appointment. We know it effects all of us. We can all be watchdogs! Even you, who seems unhappy, has the opportunity to voice your opinion immediately for the people of Darien to see and read. Patch let Darien know about the meeting on Monday night, the agenda and the vote to take place. The community will have over 72 hours to respond and act. Patch creates these opportunities and local, community involvement is at the heart of what I see as the purpose of Patch. Sometimes our blessings are so close we can not see them.
Patch is free.
Patch is available to anyone to write a comment.
Patch is about Darien- the schools, the merchants, social activities and the local politics.
We are lucky to have their presence in our community. It can not be all things to all people, but it is where you can turn to find out what your fellow citizens are thinking.

I'd just like to point out that Ernie Brown does not have the "desirable" qualifications as what were listed in the chief's job posting. Here is what was "desirable.": A bachelor’s degree is also listed as a minimum qualification, while a master’s degree and completion of the FBI Academy, staff and command school, or another similar program is “desirable.” Ernie Brown does not currently hold a Master's Degree as it is pending completion at this time and he has not attended the FBI Academy or Staff and Command School.

I suspect many who put in for the job have these job qualifications and they were not even interviewed. Why hire someone that does not fit your "desirable" qualities?

This whole process smells.

I see that one of the appointed comittee members to conduct the search is John Gonczy. It appears that John has also made a contribution to Weavers campaign on 02-05-07. Stinks like Crook County politics to me. I thought I moved away from that crummy part of the state.

http://www.elections.state.il.us/CampaignDisclosure/ContributionsSearchByAllContributions.aspx?ddlContributionType=All+Types&ddlLastOnlyNameSearchType=Starts+with&txtLastOnlyName=gonczy&ddlFirstNameSearchType=Starts+with&txtFirstName=&ddlAddressSearchType=Starts+with&txtAddress=&ddlCitySearchType=Starts+with&txtCity=&ddlState=&txtZip=&txtZipThru=&ddlOccupationSearchType=Starts+with&txtOccupation=&ddlEmployerSearchType=Starts+with&txtEmployer=&txtAmount=&txtAmountThru=&txtRcvDate=&txtRcvDateThru=&ddlOrderBy=Last+or+Only+Name+-+A+to+Z

Be ready for a lot of mixups, misleading, which our mayor is great at and now strong-arm tactics, Old Chicago comes to Darien. Darien is going down. now our mayor will have a Strong-arm enforcer. He is in the suburbs you can expect a lot of lawsuits. in which the city of Darien, the people of Darien will have to pay.

Rather than the City Council approving Mr. Brown to prove they are not racist, they should find, and hire, a better candidate to prove they are not idiots.

Hmmm, have we NOT learned what happens when a smooth talking, minimally qualified person with a questionable background gets hired??? The outcome is NOT good!!

I found an additional filing against Mr. Brown in my research. This one revolved around an incident in 1989 when, then, Officer Brown was part of a team that battered in the door of a house, entered in search of an individual and shot a young man. The case was appealed in federal court where court documents show that Mr. Brown's team failed to announce they were police officers when battering down the door, were not dressed in uniform and had their police markings on their raid clothing covered with jackets that did not bear any identifying marks. The young man was shot when he grabbed a gun to protect himself and his family. One of Brown's team members also put a gun to the young man's head as another team member allegedly kicked the man in the groin. The young man was arrested for possession of cocaine because a quantity was found in the house. This evidence was later thrown out when it was determined that one of Brown's officers had a cocaine addiction, which subsequently got the officer fired, and the courts determined this officer had sufficient time to plant the evidence after the young man was shot. Again, is this the best qualified candidate out of 140 that Darien had to choose from? Read the material for yourself:
http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/102/102.F3d.282.95-2360.html

Since most people only read down to the bottom for their updates on a story, I want to put my reply here to a couple of things mentioned earlier. I recently sent an email out to all of the Aldermen and women in Darien and I cited the "Second City Cop" blog that was referenced earlier. While blogs can, at times, be very reliable sources of preliminary information, in this case it is not. When I first read the blog and crafted my email to the council members, Most of the information contained in that blog was of a nature, while aggressive, somewhat eye opening. However, after a recent conversation with Bryon Vana, I went back and re-read some of the newer posts on the blog. The majority of the comments that were posted are unprofessional, unethical and, in many cases, immoral.

So I want to say here for all of the Patch readers, that I owe Mr. Brown the sincerest of apologies for using this information as even a preliminary source for any of my arguments. The language that is used in many of the arguments, whether the arguments are valid or not, is entirely unacceptable.

If you are attending tonight's council meeting and plan to speak your case to the council or if you post any further discussion on these Patch articles, I urge you DO NOT use this blog or any of its comments for your arguments.

And to Mr. Vana, I owe a dept of gratitudefor directing my attention back to that blog for review so that I could do the right thing in offering Mr. Brown my apologies.

Matt, are we to believe all is better now and that Mr. Brown is the absolute best choice??? I don't think so!!

Matt, thank you for the clarification and I am in agreement.

Congrats Chief Brown, I hope that you prove me and everyone else wrong. I hope what is said about you is wrong and that you will not be the figure head, political appointee of Mayor Weaver; validating what just happened tonight.

To Deputy Chief Skala and Deputy Chief Cooper, I am truly sorry that neither one of you were selected. If it ends up being your decision to leave Darien, we understand the circumstances and your decision. However, it will be our loss if you should leave. The years of dedicated service that you have given to this City, through good times and bad, are admirable and commendable. As a police officer, I would be happy to serve for you wherever you decide to go. Thank you very much, and on behalf of the citizens of Darien, THANK YOU!!!

The most frustrating part of yesterdays council meeting was the Mayor constantly reminding everyone that the Police Chief choice was her decision to make. We the voters and her constituents get that, but we would have liked it if she took the citizens of Darien into consideration. She would argue that she did and thats why she chose brown but the citizens who spoke out against this appointment apparently fell on deaf ears.
Please do not forget who voted in favor of this appointment, Ted Shauer, Tina Beilke, John Poteraske and Halil Avci.

Time for Lawyer, I will give $100.00 for Rick to sue the mayor and City, I have know him for years he may have a drank with friends but I have never seen him drunk.
E mail me how much will you give. lets take our town back its going down fast.

their has to be a law the protect citizen from people like our mayor. and the good old boys that voted with her.

I contacted my alderman yesterday and she told me she new nothing about Mr Brown, she was not involved with that but then voted for him anyway. come on tina

I paid $21,000.00 in property tax last year. I want more for my money. Our mayor was out of line calling one of our top citizen a drunk.

What a slap in the face for two veteran officers/Deputy Chiefs with the Department for many many years!