The Observer Newspapers |

June 20, 2008

Baseball Coach Motivated Herndon Officer to Join Police Force

The Town of Herndon police place a strong emphasis on community policing and their partnership with the community. In this series, The Observer will profile officers who both live and work in the Herndon community.

By Rebecca Plevin
Observer Staff Writer

Herndon police officer Steven Brown grew up playing baseball and said one of his coaches was a SWAT officer in San Francisco. He said he remembers thinking about his police officer coach, "that's a cool job, and they get to do baseball stuff."

Now that he works and lives in the Town of Herndon, Brown said he is also interested in coaching baseball. One of his goals, he said, is to "use the police department as a platform to coach." He said he hopes to begin coaching a Herndon youth baseball team next spring.

Brown's commitment to the Herndon community extends beyond the baseball diamond. He recently became the first Town of Herndon police officer to serve as a courtesy officer and now lives in a lower-income complex in town, according to Lt. Jeff Coulter, police spokesman. As the courtesy officer, Brown responds to calls in his new neighborhood when he is on the job, and patrols the property and communicates with the residents and property managers when he is off duty.

Maybe most importantly, he wears his Herndon police uniform home every night after work and parks his police cruiser in the parking lot. In the few weeks he has been living in the apartment complex, he said he has already noticed there are less people loitering on the property. "It's more of a presence thing than anything," he said.

By living in the apartment complex, Brown said he is able to gather intelligence for the police on illegal activity and quality of life issues. The position, he said, allows him to provide the squad with "a more detailed report of what's going on." He said he was also attracted to the financial benefits of the position. Brown is getting married next year and he said his fiancee "wants to have a nice wedding."

When he is not at the police station or patrolling the apartment complex, Brown can probably be found on the Herndon Centennial Golf Course. He said he and his fellow officers play on the course once or twice a week on weekdays when "nobody is there." He said it is a "good course to just play on" and said the course could be challenging "on certain days."