# Thad F. Brown

Thaddeus Franklin Brown (December 7, 1902 – October 9, 1970) was the police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from July 18, 1966 to February 17, 1967. Brown, who was the LAPD's Chief of Detectives, was appointed police chief on July 18, 1966, following Chief William H. Parker's death on July 16, 1966. Brown was succeeded by Thomas Reddin on February 17, 1967. His brother, Finis Brown, was also on the LAPD, and was one of the noteworthy police officers who investigated the Elizabeth Short murder, also known as the Black Dahlia murder.

## Early life

Thad F. Brown was born in Missouri and lived there until his early twenties. At 15, he quit school to work for 17 1/2 cents an hour in the lead and zinc mines near Joplin, Missouri. Four years later, now a married man, he moved to California. Brown soon applied for the LAPD and became an officer on January 11, 1926. Brown's badge number is 869.

## Police career

Brown investigated many high profile cases and their suspects, including L. Ewing Scott, Albert Dyer, William Edward "The Fox" Hickman, as well as Elizabeth Short's murder.

## Portrayal in media

* In James Ellroy's 2014 novel, Perfidia, a fictionalized version of Thad Brown is portrayed as a supporting character.
* Brown's name was frequently mentioned on Dragnet in the early years, especially on the radio program: Detective Joe Friday's self-introduction would include "the boss is Thad Brown, chief of detectives." Brown also makes an uncredited cameo as himself in the 1954 film. In season one episode 1 of Dragnet aired in December 1951, Thad Brown was portrayed by Raymond Burr.
* With Brown’s approval, this speech was put into his mouth by Dragnet creator Jack Webb for an episode of the show that dealt with police corruption. It was often reprinted in newspapers, and read at police academies at the time:
   THAD: (UP, MAD) Sit down in that chair you crooked little bum. It's time somebody read you off. It's time you got wise to what you are.
   CROOKED COP PAUL: I wanna fair deal, that's all, Chief. I can hand over the whole gang to you.
   THAD: Now let me tell you something, Eastman. I wouldn't take you up on that if it meant 50 years before we reached that gang. I wouldn't take you up on that if it meant my job. You get this through your head, Mister. You're a bad cop. You wanna know what that means? What it really means? I can tell you a thousand ways. I'll only use a couple. This isn't a private affair. You're a bad cop. You're a lousy one. You'll be all over the front pages tonight and tomorrow morning. Everybody's gonna read about you. A bad cop. It makes great news. They're not gonna read about 4-thousand 5-hundred other cops...the guys you think are poor dumb slobs.....the honest cops who walked their beats last night....the guys who risked their lives, who did their jobs the way they were trained and the way they're hired to do. People aren't gonna read about them. They ain't gonna read about the Fridays and the Romeros...the rookies pounding their feet flat out in the sticks...the traffic boys on the motorcycles...the men in R & I or the Crime Lab crew or the guy in robbery who stopped 2 slugs last night. They're not gonna read about them on the front page. They're not gonna read about millions of man-hours turned in by thousands of honest cops...here and all over the country. People ain't gonna read about cops who worked 40 honest years....the Donahoe's and the Steeds and the MacCaulley's and the Wisdoms and the Tetrick's and all the rest of 'em. They're not gonna read about the 98 percent, Mister. They're gonna read about you. One crooked, thieving cop. He worked with a burglary gang. He had an apartment for a beautiful dame and a beautiful fur coat. And he was a cop. And he had a nice wife and he had two children. Do you know what it means? Every kid in school with a cop for a father will have to fight his way out today because of you. Every woman with a cop for a husband is gonna go shopping at a market today. And she'll have to answer to the butcher and the grocer and every one of her neighbors because of you. Every cop in this city and across the country is gonna have to stand trial because of you. We could've piled up a hundred years of great policemen and great detectives...men with honor and brains and guts...and you, you crooked little bum, you've torn down every best part of 'em. The people who read it in the papers, they're gonna overlook the fact that we got you...that we washed our own laundry and we cleared the thing up. They're going to overlook all the good. They're gonna overlook all the good...they'll overlook every last good cop in the country. But they'll remember you, you bum. Because you're a bad cop. Because you're a bad cop.
   (BEAT) Book him in, Friday.