Brown named town’s public safety commissioner

Stephen Romano

The North Hempstead Town Board on Tuesday appointed Shawn Brown as the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.

Brown has worked for the town for 20 years, joined the department in 1999 and served as the deputy commissioner.

Brown was named interim commissioner in February when Andrew DeMartin resigned to run for state Assembly.

“We are very excited to have Shawn serve as our commissioner of public safety,” Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth said in a statement. “He brings along his institutional knowledge about the town, along with his experiences serving as the deputy commissioner and acting commissioner of public safety. His attention to detail and strong work ethic will serve him well in this position.”

Brown could not be reached for comment.

In his time as deputy commissioner, Brown helped improve the town’s public safety productivity, “mandating all code inspectors to wear a uniform, quantifying pro-active service requests, expanding code enforcement’s hours of operation to seven days a week as well as integrating the department more closely with the 311 call center,” according to a news release.

Brown was recognized by the International Code Council and named a Match Scholarship recipient in 2012.

The Department of Public Safety oversees the town’s animal shelter, code enforcement, harbor patrol, parking enforcement, emergency management and the Port Washington parking district. It also is responsible for enforcing town ordinances and regulations in unincorporated villages.

Brown is also a “big brother” with Big Brother Big Sister, and is a past president of the New York Pitt Club, the news release said.

He also founded Samba 360, a nonprofit organization that distributes new and used sports equipment to disadvantaged children.

It also provides soccer and chess programs to economically distressed communities, the release said.

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