Brown Hired As Police Contributor For ABC News

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Back in September, when pressed about what he would be doing after his October retirement, former Dallas police chief David Brown would only provide a coy response. He repeatedly said, "That's nobody's business but me and my baby."

Now, it's everybody's business.

ABC News announced Wednesday that Brown has been hired as a contributor for the organization. According to a statement, Brown will offer a "unique perspective to inform our reporting on many of the nation's fault lines -- economic inequality, gun violence, race relations, policing and social justice."

The former police chief begin his work with ABC News in January.

"It's been an honor and it's been humbling to serve as the Dallas police chief," Brown said during his September statement. He had been with the Dallas Police Department for 33 years -- his entire career -- leading them for more than six years. "That's a long time to be somewhere."

Brown is the Dallas Police Department's longest-serving chief. During his time, he achieved the city's largest crime reduction and cut down on deadly force by issuing 1,000 body cameras to his officers. He also made great strides in community policing, and was praised by city officials.

The chief was inspired to become a police officer in Dallas, he said, by a desire to bring change to his Oak Cliff neighborhood, which had been deteriorating due to drug problems. Brown went to attend college in Austin, but dropped out early in order to return to Dallas and join the force. "I came here to serve, in any capacity that the department chose to assign me to," the chief said. "I really thought that being a public servant was a high calling."

Brown ended up having a great impact on the entire city. "I felt like I've accomplished the goal of serving," he said.

The former chief's retirement came two months after the downtown police shootings that took the lives of five officers. But the tragic incident, Brown said, did not impact his retirement decision.

Something being said in the days following the attack, however, did make Brown feel uncomfortable -- the notion that he was now untouchable. "The job of a police chief is to be challenged. The job of a public servant is to be criticized," Brown said in September. "The idea of being untouchable has not felt right to me."

Still, many people across North Texas and the nation were impressed by how Brown handled the downtown Dallas ambush in July. The tragic incident pushed his name into the greater public's mind. "Blue Bloods" actor Tom Selleck even stated on "The View" that he cast his presidential vote in November for David Brown.