Assistant Sheriff Dave Brown's public service began in 1990 while a student at  San Diego State University he took a student worker position with the County of San Diego's Probation Department. A year later he joined the San Diego County Sheriff's Department where he graduated from the 11th Corrections Academy in 1991. He began his career at the Vista Detention facility. In 1993 Assistant Sheriff Brown graduated the 25th Regional Law Enforcement Academy and embarked on his law enforcement services career at the Vista Station where he worked patrol, community policing, and area investigations. 

In 2003 he was promoted to sergeant and was assigned to the downtown court, court investigations, Ramona Patrol, and the Homicide unit. In 2010 he was promoted to Lieutenant and was assigned to the communications center, Court Field Division, Vista Court, Criminal Intelligence Unit and station commander of Imperial Beach.

In 2015 he was promoted to Captain and was assigned to the communications center, Special Assistant to the Sheriff, and station commander of the San Marcos Station.

He was promoted to commander in 2020 where he oversaw all the Sheriff's patrol stations. 

In 2021 he was promoted to Assistant Sheriff of the Law enforcement Services Bureau overseeing all law enforcement.

During his 30-year tenure with the Sheriff's Department, Assistant Sheriff Dave Brown graduated from the Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute and the Senior Management Institute for Police at Boston University. Among his many accolades, as a homicide sergeant he led the investigation into the Chelsea King and Amber Dubois homicides. He also is a veteran of all the major wildfires of the past decades and regularly testifies at the county planning commission as the department's subject matter expert on evacuations. 

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