Police Commissioner William Haleck has designated Mara Brown as the “overall supervisor in charge of the Administrative and Operational aspects of the Juvenile Detention Center” effective Oct. 21, 2014.

In a personnel order, Haleck noted that some personnel at the TCF and the JDC have “protested and resisted Mara Brown’s command position at JDC.”

He said, “The basis for this obstreperous behavior appeared to ‘center’ on the position that police officers ‘cannot’ report to a civilian (although Brown has been deputized, her official title is Counselor II); she never went through an academy, and even if she was deputized, how can a more senior or higher ranking officer report to her?

“I see the ‘protests’ of some personnel as nothing more than ‘petty griping’. Furthermore, the overall well being of the children at the JDC and society as a whole far outweigh the ‘petty griping’, disruptions, and conduct of a few,” Haleck continued.

In her capacity, Brown will ONLY report to Acting Warden Fo’ifua Fo’ifua Jr. and the Police Commissioner. “Any acts of insubordination towards her or any attempt to undermine her efforts at the JDC will not be tolerated and will most definitely be dealt with severely,” Haleck wrote.

He said since the JDC opened in 1996 and since its inception, for the most part, “has been the subject of grave concern and ridicule by the legal community and members of the general public. These perceptions by in large were propagated by acts of indolence, incompetence, and indifference on the part of some vested and entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the facility accordingly.”

According to Haleck, “Mara Brown took charge of the JDC and in approximately 10 months, converted a facility from being septic into one that has been a subject of positive feedback and praise from the Courts, the legal community, the Department of Education, and other agencies associated with the JDC.”

Under the statute by which she was deputized, Brown “shall have and may exercise all of the powers and authority of a police officer.”

Copies of Haleck’s personnel order were cc’d to Governor Lolo Moliga, and all the DPS Bureaus.