Sheriff Brown, announced as "2017 Sheriff of the Year" is a retired Senior Special Agent, United States Treasury Department, Criminal Investigations. He served in the US Army, Military Police Corps, from 1967 to 1970; as a Tactical Officer, Special Operations Division, Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, DC; as a Staff Support Specialist with the Central Intelligence Agency; and, prior to his election as Sheriff on January 1, 1996, he served as a law enforcement instructor/consultant with the United States Department of Justice (ICITAP), in Central and South America and the Caribbean. He has worked in the criminal justice arena for forty four years in the United States, Europe, Central America, and the Caribbean.

He currently directs a national task force dealing with the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet for the Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. He testified before Congress in 1999 on matters concerning Internet crimes against children (sexual exploitation of children and the problem of child pornography on the Internet), and again in 2001 concerning the COPS Program. He has served as a member of Virginia’s Task Force on Identity Theft, and was selected by then Attorney General Janet Reno, in 2000, to serve on the Crime Technology Initiative Forum, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the White House.

Sheriff Brown is a member of the Executive Committee, Board of Directors, National Sheriffs Association, where he currently serves as the Chair, Technology Committee, and is a member of the Congressional Affairs Committee. He is also a member of the Board of Directors, National White Collar Crime Center, and the Board of Advisors, Law Enforcement Innovation Center, University of Tennessee and is a member of The International Police Association and the Fraternal Order of Police.

The Sheriff is a graduate of The American University in Washington, DC, with degrees in The Administration of Justice and Police Administration; and, the Department of Justice, Executive Development Program. He is a graduate of numerous government and military schools including, but not limited to, the following: US Army (Military Police and Intelligence), FBI, DEA, BATF, Secret Service, IRS Intelligence, CIA, and others.