May 14, 2015 3 min read

CARLISLE – Gov. Tom Wolf’s nominee for Pennsylvania State Police commissioner will not be charged for removing signs near his suburban Harrisburg home that protested his decision to wear the trooper uniform, a county prosecutor said Thursday.

Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said Col. Marcus Brown had no intent to commit theft but only meant to keep the road signs out of view of his wife and children.

Also, Freed said, the signs planted in a public right of way by a former state police trooper were effectively abandoned property and in violation of a town ordinance.

In any case, the retired trooper, Tony DeLuca, got what he wanted because he was more interested in testing Brown’s integrity, the prosecutor said.

“Simply put, he set the bait and Brown took it, hook line and sinker,” Freed said.

Brown is acting state police commissioner and Wolf’s nominee for the post permanently.

Brown should have known better than to take the signs, Freed said, and DeLuca – who claimed his free speech rights were violated by Brown’s removing them – should have known better than report a situation he created as a crime.

Freed’s decision wraps up a nearly two-month investigation into the signs’ removal that spurred calls by the troopers’ union and leaders of the Senate’s Republican majority for Wolf to withdraw Brown’s nomination. Wolf refused, and reiterated this week he continues to stand by Brown, saying the former Maryland state police superintendent is qualified for the job.

Wolf, a Democrat, took office in January and tapped Brown to lead the Pennsylvania State Police, one of the nation’s largest law enforcement agencies with about 6,000 personnel.

Brown, 50, apologized for removing the signs, saying he made an error in judgment. But he also said he felt his family was being watched, and their privacy was invaded.

The signs and their removal brought attention to a campaign by former state troopers to scuttle Brown’s nomination.

The message on the signs – “Marcus Brown didn’t earn it!” and “Marcus Brown don’t wear it!” – revolve around Brown’s decision to wear the uniform, rather than plainclothes, while on the job. Some retired state troopers publicly criticized Brown for wearing the uniform because he did not attend the State Police Academy, as every trooper must, or come up through the department’s ranks.

Brown said he wears the uniform out of respect for his colleagues and to help represent the state police.

But some retired troopers said his removing the signs underscores their broader belief Brown lacks the integrity to lead the state police. Among other things, they question Brown’s theories of law enforcement. Last year, following turmoil in Ferguson, Mo., over the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, Brown was quoted as saying at a conference of Maryland law enforcement officials that the militarization of police often escalates civil disobedience.

Brown, who pledged to increase the number of minorities in the troopers’ ranks, claimed to have received a racially charged note in his home mailbox a week after he removed the signs. Freed said he is still investigating the note, but has not identified a suspect.

The note said: “No (racial epithet) lover will wear my uniform.” It was signed “didnt-dont,” an apparent reference to criticism by retired state police of Brown’s decision to wear the state police uniform.