SEQUIM — Port Angeles Police Officer Luke Brown has been recognized as the department’s Officer of the Year by the Olympic Peninsula Chapter 74 of the International Footprint Association.

Brown was honored last Monday at the chapter’s annual dinner and award ceremony.

Law enforcement officers and firefighters from area agencies were nominated by their host agencies and recognized at the event.

A Clallam County native, Brown is a 2000 graduate of Port Angeles High School and of Peninsula College in 2003.

He is a 14-year law enforcement veteran, who served 12 years with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office prior to joining the Port Angeles Police Department two years ago.

In 2017, he carried a caseload that included 423 written reports, 2,344 incident responses, 57 written citations and 95 physical arrests, according to a news release.

Sgt. Josh Powless said in his award nomination about Brown: “The most impressive thing … was Officer Brown’s ability to take this workload in stride with a ‘can do’ attitude.”

Brown is well regarded by his team, partner agencies and the Clallam County prosecuting attorney for the quality of his work and attention to detail.

Based on his performance he has been sent to specialized training as a crisis/hostage negotiator and as a critical incident stress management (CISM) team member, according to the release.

An example of Brown’s negotiation skills was a recent incident involving a male domestic violence suspect who had barricaded himself in a trailer, PAPD chief of police Brian Smith said in a news release.

The man told his girlfriend that he was not going to jail and had an axe and crowbar with him when he entered the trailer, Smith said.

Brown arrived and began speaking with the subject, and could hear the sound of the axe striking the floor, Smith said.

Cpl. David Dombrowski arrived and the two worked together to diffuse the incident with their negotiations resulting in the peaceful surrender of the subject, Smith said.

According to Smith: Dombrowski later stated that Brown should be “commended for his clear-headed handling of a very stressful incident.”