There is an odd patronymic symmetry to Brannon Snead’s departure as Bunnell’s interim chief after less than three months: he is being replaced by Dave Brannon, for 26 years a member of the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and a district commander for many of those years. Both Brannons will be at the new chief’s swearing in at a Feb. 28 City Commission meeting, when new recruits will also be sworn in. It is anybody’s guess how Snead will quip about Brannon’s looks: he’s a colossus of a man.
Dave Brannon’s appointment is occurring much more quietly than that of Michael Walker, his barely-lived predecessor. For that one, City Manager Alvin Jackson, a part-time preacher with a weakness for the theatrical, called a news conference, Bunnell’s first ever, declaimed about Bunnell past and future as if it were a valiant city state, and introduced Walker and his family to whirring cameras and iPhones, projecting great things for the city. Days later Walker told Jackson he was no longer interested in the job.
Jackson had appointed him after he alone interviewed Walker, a former police chief in Lake Helen. For Dave Brannon, and at Snead’s urging, Jackson did a bit more due diligence, involving an interview committee that included the Flagler County Sheriff’s Chief Dave Williams and the city’s finance director (Snead was not involved). Brannon–officially, David F. Brannon II–began at the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office in 1993, became a captain in 2006, and was commander of the sector that included Deltona and DeLand, the county’s biggest municipalities by combined population. He ran for Volusia sheriff in 2016, coming in third (with 14.7 percent) in a field of five. Mike Chitwood, the former Daytona Beach police chief, won the race almost with 50 percent of the vote, and was reelected last year.
Brannon retired from the sheriff’s office in good standing in mid-July 2019. See his evaluations here. Late in his tenure at the department, Brannon was the subject of an internal affairs investigation–not his first–prompted by displeasure by a Black deputy that Brannon was placing her in a supervisory role and urging other Black deputies to attend events in the Black community, as outreach, in ways they felt were demeaning. Brannon countered that he was merely seeking to foster stronger community relations and to select certain assignments to avoid bias, not create it. The allegation against him pertaining to a violation of merit system rules and regulations was determined to be unfounded. See the full investigation here.
Snead and Brannon know each other from command school. ” He was assigned as the commander to build Volusia County Sheriff’s Office’s law enforcement services in Deltona,” Snead said. “He has been through this process. We’ve been through the same schools. I’ve been through some other schools as well, but he knows what to do and he knows what needs to be done. The one thing that he had that I didn’t have was, he already had local contacts. He already had local relationships. I had to build those and develop them and call and do these things that he’s already got here. He already has those relationships built. So for him, I just see him coming in, he likes to work, he’s a very approachable person, and being able to continue to build off what we’ve done.”
Snead had indicated all along that he was tapped as an interim, not a permanent, chief, even though Jackson wanted him as his chief. But in his short tenure in Bunnell–he started on Dec. 7–Snead won the admiration of city commissioners, an admiration that may serve him in good stead should he decide to apply for city manager there when Jackson retires in about three years, as intends to.
Meanwhile, Snead is leaving the city with a few firsts, among them a strategic plan for the police department. “The fact that it’s 2022 and there was no strategic plan ever done. I mean, how are you going to be a forward department who’s transparent with the community if you don’t have a strategic plan to show where you’re going and where you want to go?” Snead said in an interview. “Every major city every place, especially if you’re trying to get accredited or look to get accredited, you have to have that because because it is a footprint.”
Getting the police department accredited would be another first. Appointing an internal affairs investigator for the department was yet another (Kyle Totten, a detective who works part time for the city). And working out an agreement with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office to take over major crime investigations for Bunnell was yet another. That agreement is near completion, Snead said.
Snead presented the strategic plan to the city commission on Monday, and discussed it in detail in a lengthy interview. If applied, the plan would reinvent the 14-member police department, expanding it to 18 or 19 uniform personnel. It would create four divisions–patrol, investigations, special operations, support services–including the addition of a K-9 unit and a public information officer. The city would establish a citizen review board or advisory council, the likes of which do not exist in the county. Police policies would all be published on the city’s website, with a premium placed on police transparency and accessibility in the community (Snead has been telling his officers: “Roll your window down, stop riding with your windows, say hello.”). Officers would also have reserve officers and a citizen’s patrol. Surveillance cameras would be installed around city facilities and parks (the city’s previous surveillance camera system has not worked out too well: the cameras are still in place, but are not functioning.)
It’s an ambitious plan. It’s an expensive plan. Snead says that with development booming–he mentioned one developer looking to potentially develop 1,100 acres in the city–the city would be ill-advised not to invest in its department. “If you don’t invest in infrastructure and get it where it needs to be, it’s going to be hard to do these things,” Snead said. Referring to Jackson, he continued: “I talked to him about two options. You can close the police department, outsource to the sheriff, or you’re going to have to invest in the police department, and these are the things that you need. It started with the strategic plan. The commission clearly wanted to give the police department a shot. They committed to investing into it. How they’re going to do it, they’ve got to figure that out, because I don’t like to fail. I don’t mean that negatively, but it’s going to fail if they don’t fund it. That’s just the reality because these things are going to cost money. Benefits, hiring officers, uniforms, equipment, vehicles, they cost money.”
For now, the city doesn’t have the money to expand the department, certainly not to the extent that the strategic plan sees it expanding. But the city will have to find the means, the interim chief said. Snead is encouraged by what he saw during his tenure. “I have gotten nothing but overwhelming support from the commissioners, the mayor, the vice mayor, everyone,” he said. “They have really been there but they’ve listened. I had to have some very frank conversations with them to be very honest with you about the state that the police department was in, how it could be fixed.” But from here on, it’ll be up to the other Brannon.
“I truly believe that he’s going to carry on with everything that’s been implemented,” Snead said. “And he’s going to build off that because look, if he doesn’t, then it goes back to what it was. Or it stays stagnant and it doesn’t move forward.” Next steps include a community survey, measurable goals, and the accreditation.
As for the department in its current condition, Snead described it as if it were Lazarus risen from the dead. “When I got to this police department what really bothered me is, just everybody had this defeated look, like they were defeated. Like they weren’t getting support,” he said. “There was silos here. It was us against them type mentality. I did everything I could to try to help them heal.” The department was coming off the death of Sgt. Dominic Guida during a training exercise, followed in quick succession by the resignations of seven-year Chief Tom Foster and long-time Sgt. Matt Mortimer, who, along with yet more resignations–Matt Hirschi, Jake Sanders–moved to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
Snead said his own transparency and forthrightness with his officers had the same benefit for himself–“it allowed me to heal,” he said, a reference to past issues never openly examined until recently–so that mutual respect was built from the start. “I didn’t lie. I told them the truth. I got people together,” Snead said. “Well, this was said and that was said, Okay, well, let’s get everybody together and let’s talk about it. Let’s get it out.” Now, he said, “morale is great. The morale is the best it’s ever been. People are happy to come to work. They want to, they have buy-in, they want to develop these things. The reality is, they needed somebody who believed in them.”
So it was something of a valentine, too, when Snead addressed the City Commission Monday evening–Valentine’s Day–and concluded his presentation of the strategic plan with what, this time, was a clear farewell. “So thank you all for your support,” he told commissioners. “I thank the citizens and am very appreciative for the opportunity to be interim chief. It has been overwhelming and very emotional for me, because it has been a very humbling experience.”
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Roy Longo says
Hey! I voted for this guy for Sheriff in 2016!
Elect new officials... says
A police department that is scared will never succeed. BPD is scared to go into the south side, sit on the out skirts and let shit happen… shouldn’t be a surprise since there is only 2 on at time or less…
TASC says
When to college with this stand up Deputy. Great guy very genuine show be a nice fit for Bunnell
I call BS says
Happy St. Valentines Day Massacre to you too Chief Snead.
I can believe that that’s the best you can do is take a play book from Alvin Jackson and create a strategic plan. For those of you who may not know what a Strategic plan is, is essentially a business plan. In this case not achievable and nothing new.
When Chief Foster was hired in 2014 he had a 18+ Police agency with that budget.
A City Manager by the name Larry Williams cut that budget to the budget that Chief Foster was working with upon his Retirement, not resignation.
Alvin Jackson kept Chief Foster’s budget so tight that Foster had to get used retired Police Cars from other Sheriff’s offices just to have cars. Speaking of local connections that was Chief Foster’s prowess, respect from other agencies but nothing from his own boss whe really wanted him gone.
At one point and for several years one of the Commissioner’s worked with Sheriff Manfre and Staly to see the feasibility of taking over Bunnell PD as Chief Foster tried to stay within that cut budget.
Snead your strategic plan is so out of touch that your new Chief Brannon is likely to fail if not properly funded.
To quote our President Brandon “That a load of Malarky” an Irish or Galic term for “I Call Bull Shit.”
I’m sure you spent hour after hour writing that Malarkey of a business plan but the flaw in your plan is lacking substance of how to pay for it?
You see your John Phillip Sousa style exit from Bunnell is cool but not transparent.
You should have been thanking the taxpayers of Bunnell too, here’s why you failed to mention that Alvin Jackson took funds from reserves to pay for your uncontrollable spending. Pay raises, un-meritted promotions and the hiring of a Chief that they are paying more that Chief Foster was getting upon his retirement.
Oh yeah monies transferred from from the City Streets Paving funds.
Wow it just occurred to me as I was writing this comment that you said moral was at an all time high in Bunnell PD, of course it is you hired officers that were either fired or released from their previous jobs in law enforcement. I’m not going to pick on them as they are still wanting to risk their lives for the badge but Chief Brannon you better see that you can train and equpt them once the reality of your budget sets in. Chief Brannon you come fron big budgets your eyes will open soon.
So in essence Snead your saying that Chief Foster’s standards were too high???
By using the lie detector, psychological and PT testing was not used in the hiring of these new officers????
Wow, and why would you not tell the truth about getting the department FDLE accredited?
Part of the accreditation is a proper evidence room, armory for weapons. Not attainable in a mobile home office space.
So let’s recap:
1)Chief Foster retires from Alvin Jackson’s gas lighting tactics.
2) Three Chiefs are hired in the last 90 days one didn’t last 15 minutes after the “Big press conference ”
3) For the first time in in Bunnell PD history a strategic plan was adopted, don’t get so full of yourself Snead check back when Chief Foster was first hired he wrote a similar plan.
4) let’s expand the budget with the total disregard for the City budget as Jackson continues his out of control spending. Remember Alvin Jackson’s last job in Hallandale where he was terminated for the same actions.
5) Lastly, Chief Foster’s hiring standards were just too high. The good news Snead you lowered them and the new Chief has the best standard to work from, NONE!
Truth Hurts says
Foster,
Let’s discuss what you did while you were the Chief since you have to rant on every post.
FACT:
You left ONE man on at night while lying to the Commissioners and Citizens. Not only putting the citizens in danger, but also your officers. THAT’S NOT A LEADER!
FACT:
If the budget was so tight, why did you have money left over each year.
FACT:
The officer’s under your leadership lacked training that YOU turned them down for.
FACT:
The evidence locker was so F’ed up, it’s still being worked on to get everything up to standards.
FACT:
The equipment locker was also a mess. No list of what you have and don’t have. No list of what each officer was assigned. Also, you ran to the citizens whining you didn’t have equipment and they gave donations for it, and once the locker was cleaned, BAM, there was still stuff in boxes that has never been used.
FACT:
You played with 911 calls to make it look like the crime rate was down, when in reality it is higher than it has ever been.
FACT:
You called employers and bad mouthed officers so they could not leave your department and spoke badly about your employees to other employees.
FACT:
The Commissioner’s NEVER asked you to stay as “city manager” when you were interim.
FACT:
You were going to the Sheriff wanting him to take over Bunnell, not the Commissioner’s.
FACT:
You bad mouthed the City Manager and the City Commission to your employees and citizens.
FACT:
You want to blame one person for standing up to your BS. Well, sorry to tell you, there was more than one under your leadership that had plenty to say. Past and present.
FACT:
You spent an hour every morning eating breakfast and an hour for lunch everyday on the citizens dime.
FACT:
The morale had been great since Chief Snead has been here. Better than I have ever seen it.
FACT:
You think you are the best there is. I’m sorry to burst your little ego, but thank GOD you are gone.
Suggestion:
Go on your little merry way and get over it.
Maybe I’ll do another public records request with all the FACTS and post them. If I do that, you would never work in LE again. That’s a FACT JACK!!
Maybe I will do that. It’ll end you and your little buddy’s career.
I call BS says
No not Foster but now I know who you are.
Skibum says
It sounds like Brannon Snead observed and has taken some initial, very critical steps to address the many missing pieces within Bunnell’s police department. However, the monetary commitment from the city, hard work by those within the PD, and ongoing partnership with and acceptance from the community to transform it into something everyone can be proud of is going to take time and will require an exceptional leader to guide the PD through what will likely be a tough, multi-year process. Are the city leaders ready and willing to acknowledge their responsibility for past failures and do what is necessary to properly fund the city’s police department to the degree that will be needed to accomplish the goals set out in this strategic plan? I still think it would be more fiscally responsible for the city to have the sheriff’s office provide law enforcement services to Bunnell just like the sheriff does in the much, much larger city of Palm Coast, but if these choose to keep their small PD, the city leaders have an obligation to ensure they provide the funding and resources critical to it’s success because clearly what it has been in the past cannot be termed a success story in any way.
Mark says
The “We back the Blue” sign being handed out in the picture above is a clear sign to the community of bunnell of racism and division. As opposed to handing a black lives matter sign they had them this. We are not blind and we are not stupid and we see clearly the symbols of hate you pass around as if they were a positive. We back the blue is a racist term , a backhanded slap to any person of color or any person that believes in civil rights.
Listen to the black officers who reported this man to internal affairs, they are not lying.
Skibum says
I respectfully suggest that your criticism of the back the blue sign and that it is a “clear sign to the community of Bunnell of racism and division” shows just how far off track communication and cooperation has become between the citizens of the city and its police department. While you and others may believe that the slogan only infers a one track direction of support for law enforcement, in reality the ONLY way for communities to “back the blue” is when the blue backs the community as well. Those in the police department have an obligation to not only tell the community but to SHOW the community that they back the citizens who live and work there, and need the support and cooperation of the community in order to do the job they are hired to do. It is a two way street, and as if often the case, communication seems to be the first thing that tends to break down and needs to be shored up to gain the TRUST of the community so law enforcement can effectively solve crimes and maintain safety for the citizens. There’s work on both sides that need to be done, and simply saying the sign shows racism and division is not helpful to coming together.
As far as the internal investigation into the Captain who assigned the black Sgt. to conduct the investigation into alleged wrongdoing of the black deputy, can you just imagine the negative feedback from both within the department AND the community if he had assigned a white supervisor to conduct the investigation and it had resulted in the termination of the black deputy? There would surely have been charges of racism and questions such as why one of the department’s black supervisors had not been given that assignment to avoid such racism and cronyism charges. And looking at the allegations, I was shocked at some of the things the black female supervisor actually said. Her job as a supervisor includes not only supervising deputies, but conducting investigations of wrongdoing of the department’s deputies. During my long law enforcement career in CA and WA states, rising to management level and being responsible for hundreds of internal investigations I either conducted or supervised, it was common practice to ALWAYS assign an investigator who was NOT in the line of supervision of the employee being investigated. This is done for common sense reasons, and if not the norm here in Florida, it should be. Impartial investigation by an unbiased supervisor is not only the fair thing to do, but of critical importance during a fact finding investigation. That another minority supervisor would be assigned does not show racism, cronyism or favoritism, it is a sign that the department is going out of its way to be fair to the person under investigation, and should be applauded, not criticized. And what was the outcome of the investigation into this captain for assigning the black female the way he did? The investigation cleared him of wrongdoing, naturally. Nothing inappropriate occurred. He may have been imprecise in how he answered the female supervisor’s questions as to why she was assigned the investigation in the first place. Had it been me, I would have answered her by pointing out that as a sergeant, one of her duties is to conduct investigations as assigned, and that she was given the assignment as the best person to conduct it and leave it at that, period. If she did not want to potentially be assigned to conduct investigations into other deputies’ alleged misconduct, she should not have taken advantage of the promotional opportunity afforded her, and instead remained a deputy. I do not fault the captain for the way he handled it, and I hope he turns out to be a good fit for the Bunnell police department considering he has many years of policing experience in central Florida. I hope the citizens of Bunnell gives him a fair opportunity to prove he is the right person for the task ahead.
Ray W. says
Thank you for your insights, Skibum.
Ron says
Sadly,
The Bunnell Police department hasn’t had a good Chief since I moved here in 2000.
When I seen Chief Foster, all he did was bitch to everyone that would listen.
When I have had dealings with any of the officer’s, they have always been pleasant and helpful.
Thanks to Chief Snead who stepped in to help the PD, and good luck to Chief Brannon.
Concerned Citizen says
After getting out of the service I spent a good portion of my Public Safety career working for a large county in Ga. First the Sheriffs Office then after getting married switching over to Fire Rescue. After nearly 30 years I thought I had seen all sorts of shenannigans in our line of work.
I was wrong.
BPD continues to amaze me with the drama that gets cooked up. Here’s to hoping that the new Chief has a succesful career. But I’m curious as to why there were no qualified African American candidates. If you wish to improve BPD’s image with the public. And foster a change in the community you start at the top. And it starts with diversity.