Manchester Police Chief Dakotah Brown and his only officer resigned from his position effective September 18, 2025. The Manchester Village Council is actively searching for his replacement. (People’s Defender File Photo)
By Ryan Applegate
People’s Defender
Manchester Police Chief Dakotah Brown has announced his resignation, effective in two weeks, marking the end of a two-year effort to re-establish local law enforcement in the Village of Manchester. Brown, who began his role on July 2, 2023, issued a public statement on September 4 explaining his decision and reflecting on the challenges and accomplishments of his time in office.
Brown’s departure will not be the only one. The department’s second officer has also submitted a resignation on the same timeline, meaning the village will once again be left without any full-time local law enforcement coverage unless temporary or interim arrangements are made. The simultaneous resignations come as a significant development in a community where, just two years ago, there was no police department at all.
When Brown was appointed, Manchester did not have an active police force. The village had been without a functioning department for several years, and Brown was tasked not only with overseeing police operations but with building a department from the ground up. In his message to the community, he described that responsibility as both daunting and deeply personal, calling it a mission he took seriously from the outset.
Brown said that when he arrived, he believed criminal activity had been occurring openly in the absence of local enforcement. He made it his goal to establish a visible and accountable police presence and said he took pride in helping restore public trust. “With very limited resources,” Brown wrote, “I was very proud of all the work the Manchester P.D. had accomplished.” He credited improvements in community safety to the work of his small team and the resilience of the town’s residents.
While Brown expressed satisfaction with some of the department’s achievements, he also acknowledged that not all of his objectives were met. He said he presented a plan to expand the department’s capabilities and requested additional support, but felt that those efforts were met with insufficient follow-through. In his words, the response involved “some acceptance but more resistance and stonewalling,” which contributed to his decision to step aside.
Village officials have not yet issued a public response to the resignations or to Brown’s comments regarding departmental support. It remains unclear what interim measures, if any, will be taken to provide local law enforcement coverage after mid-September.
Brown said his decision to resign was made after careful reflection and was not made lightly. He called his time as Chief the most meaningful of his career and thanked the officers, staff, and residents who supported him during his tenure. “Serving as your Chief of Police has been the greatest honor of my life,” he wrote. “Every day I worked alongside an amazing group of staff and officers who were committed to this community.”
He pointed to signs of progress, such as children riding bikes and residents walking their neighborhoods, as indications of a town beginning to feel safer. He acknowledged that these improvements were the result of collective effort, crediting both his team and the community at large.
Though disappointed that more could not be accomplished, Brown expressed confidence that the foundation he helped lay will benefit whoever is chosen to succeed him. “I made the decision that it was best to step away from my position, leaving the department in a much better place than when I founded it,” he wrote.
Brown concluded by urging the community to support his successor, and thanked residents for welcoming him during his time in Manchester. “I know when a successor is appointed that the Village of Manchester will welcome them with open arms and support them as they pick up the shield and become your new protector,” he said.
With both full-time officers set to depart, the resignations mark a turning point for Manchester’s public safety efforts. Brown’s tenure was the first in years to bring sustained law enforcement presence back to the village. As his time in office comes to a close, the future of the department, and whether it will be sustained, restructured, or replaced, remains uncertain.
