Greeley police officer Andrew Brown will be one of three first responders to earn a significant place in Aims Community College history next week.
Brown, Garden City Police Chief Jeremy Black and Windsor Severance Fire Rescue Lieutenant Brian Pegg will become the first students to earn bachelor’s degrees from the college, which previously conferred only associate degrees and certificates.
Brown, Black and Pegg will receive public safety bachelor applied science degrees this spring. The public safety bachelor’s is the only bachelor’s degree offered at Aims.
Brown, 30, graduated from Greeley West High School. Born and raised in Greeley, his ties to Aims stretch back to his boyhood. Brown’s father, Fred, directed the college’s automotive program for 14 years. Andrew Brown also visited Aims for the College 4 Kids summer program while attending Greeley-Evans schools.
Brown will represent the public safety bachelor’s degree students as a speaker at the first of two Aims commencement ceremonies, scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at the Welcome Center Auditorium in Greeley. The ceremony will also recognize students in Allied Health and Wellness, education and transportation. A 3 p.m. graduation for students in arts and sciences and business and technology will follow.
A Greeley guy, born and raised
Described as a young man who is engaged in his schooling and in his work, Brown feels honored to be one of the first students who will earn a bachelor’s degree at Aims.
“We’re setting the bar,” Brown said. “We are the example. We want to do the best that we can so that they continue to have successful students through the program, or even students who outdo what we did.”
After high school, Brown earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Aims in 2015. He then graduated from Aims’ police academy and later took general education courses. He is also a part-time instructor at the police academy.
Brown joined the Greeley Police Department last September after previously working in Brighton and Garden City.
Ross Perkins, the director of the Aims Public Safety Institute at Aims’ Windsor campus, notified the three bachelor’s degree candidates about the chance to speak at commencement. Brown responded with interest, applied and submitted a draft of a speech, earning approval from the commencement committee.
Perkins called Brown a “go-getter” who would be a good speaker as an overall outstanding student. Perkins said Brown represents the entire “Aims educational ecosystem.”
“He’s a product of that system and the success of that system,” Perkins added.
Brown opted to earn a bachelor’s degree because it will allow him to be eligible for promotions to higher ranking administrative positions. As a patrol officer now, Brown doesn’t need an advanced degree.
He hopes to make his career in Greeley, spending 20 to 30 years here. When the time is right, and with hard work, he’ll have an interest in promotions.
“I grew up in Greeley,” Brown said. “It’s where I’m from. It’s home, and I’m not leaving. I love it.”
Greeley Police Department Sergeant Travis Devine, Brown’s patrol supervisor, said Brown’s pursuit of the bachelor’s degree shows he is a driven and motivated person. Brown worked for the degree for his own growth and development — not because of a mandate from the department.
“The continued education only benefits us,” Devine said. “And I think it benefits the community too. Already being hired and seeking the bachelor’s, I think, just speaks to his willingness to self improve.”
Brown started studying for the bachelor’s degree in January 2023 when the online-only program went live with seven students.
Devine said everyone at the police department is dedicated to the city and its residents. But Brown, being born and raised here, has a different bond, Devine said.
“I think he exemplifies the positive things we can get from hiring hometown,” Devine said. “He’s very connected, and you can tell that by his work ethic.”
Brown has family in the area, and his wife, Sydney, is a victim advocate with the Greeley Police Department. They met as teenagers through a junior deputy program at the Weld County Sheriff’s Office. They’ve been married for two years.
The public safety bachelor’s degree at Aims focused on the administrative side of emergency medical services, law enforcement, fire science or emergency management. The degree is geared toward working professionals such as Brown, who have other education related to their work.
He said the bachelor’s program covers budgets and learning how to pay for department needs such as equipment and vehicles. The classes also discussed working with the media on incident response and designing safer communities.
There are currently 40 students admitted to the public safety bachelor of applied science program at Aims, and 30 are enrolled and actively taking classes, according to the college.
Aims communication strategist Natalie Stevens said Aims has no specific plans to add other bachelor’s degrees at this time. If the college sees an unmet need where it can provide an opportunity for students and employers, she added, the school would look into the possibility of other bachelor’s programs.
Aims Community College student Andrew Brown gives his presentation as part of his final project — known as a capstone project — to earn his bachelor of applied science in public safety at the Aims Windsor campus. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)A learning disability
School and education weren’t always positive experiences for Brown. He has dyslexia, which is a language-based learning disability. The learning disability refers to a cluster of symptoms leading to difficulty with language skills such as spelling, writing and pronouncing words.
Dyslexia is referred to as a learning disability because of the challenges it creates for students “to succeed academically in the typical instructional environment,” according to the International Dyslexia Association.
Brown struggles with writing. Sitting at a computer and typing a report is a difficult task for him. He has trouble focusing and skips words, he said. This can be a problem for a police officer, a job where paperwork is critical.
Law enforcement reports influence or support prosecution of criminal cases. Black, the Garden City chief, said “paperwork is the lifeblood of any police department.” He estimated 50% of a law enforcement workload from the street is writing reports.
Brown went to work in Brighton out of the Aims police academy in 2017. He spent six months as a reserve officer, or volunteer, trying to earn experience, and six months in a full-time role. Brown’s full-time tenure with the department ended after six months because he couldn’t write reports. He didn’t pass field training and was terminated.
Brown refers to the experience as a failure and the lowest point in his life.
He went to work for an armored truck company and returned to Aims to take general writing classes. Brown said he looked for a way to “get myself right and improve.”
Brown and Black, the Garden City chief, have known each other for about 15 years. They met when Brown was in high school and Black worked with the Weld County Sheriff’s Office. At the county, Black oversaw the Explorer Program for students who were about 14 to 21 years old and interested in a law enforcement career. Brown participated in the program and went on to continue down the path toward law enforcement as he finished high school.
Brown grew up influenced by family members who believed in the Rotary International theme and philosophy of service above self. Both of Brown’s grandfathers were in the Navy; one, Alfred Rodrigues, survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Rodrigues died in 2019 at age 99.
Brown adopted their interest in “boots on the ground” work for his community and went with law enforcement.
“I wanted to be there on the worst day of somebody’s life and hopefully have an impact,” he said. “That was the driving feeling that I wanted to do.”
Greeley police officer Andrew Brown stands next to his police car while at the Greeley Police Department on Friday. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Garden City hired Black in 2017 to start a police department. Black said he heard from Brown after Brown’s termination in Brighton. Brown called Black about the possibility of joining the department in Garden City. Black started a reserve unit, and Brown came on board. He moved into a full-time job with the department in 2019.
“He did an amazing job for us,” Black said. “He was supportive in the community and engaged. He was very engaging with the community.”
To help with report writing, Brown was introduced to a dictation software through a former colleague in Garden City. The program, called Dragon, is used by physicians to dictate notes, and Brown heard it might be beneficial for him.
Using Dragon allows him to record his reports verbally. The words are transcribed and transferred into a computer document, allowing Brown to assemble a report — and allowing him to continue in law enforcement. Brown purchased the software initially, and Garden City then backed him to continue its use.
“It was like the second coming of Jesus,” Brown said. “It was that big of an effect. I could then write reports. It was that moment that everything connected.”
Brown said the software allowed him to be successful with Garden City, and he used it while studying for the bachelor’s degree at Aims.
Black said the Garden City department as a whole wants to focus on growth and development of its personnel. Having the software for Brown was “a common sense approach” to helping the officer reach a higher level with his policing.
The approach also made sense because of who Brown is as a person and a member of a team. Black said he knew Brown’s capabilities and his character — that Brown would put in the work and effort to make the investment in the software pay off for the town.
“He was the one who did the work and wanted to be successful,” Black said. “We tried to work with him. Without effort, nothing else is accomplished. If they’re not willing, you’re not going to accomplish the end goal.”
As of this month, Brown will have the bachelor’s degree to prove it.
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