Meet the new face of PPD

The Pinehurst Police Department (PPD) has gone through a lot of changes over the past year.

Ever since long time Chief Rocky Wilson retired in 2016 and interim Chief Mike Gunderson left the department to take his place as the Sheriff, citizens of Pinehurst wondered if PPD would even continue on.

After the decision was made by the city to contract with the Sheriff’s Office (SCSO), a new face of the department was needed.

It turns out that they did not need to look very far.

Officer Tonia Brown, a deputy with SCSO, has become that new face and she could not be more excited about it.

“During my two years in the valley I have become partial to Pinehurst,” Brown explained, “It is the friendliest and well kept town in the valley.”

Brown was born in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and raised in Spokane, where she graduated from Mead Senior High School.

Following high school, she studied criminal justice at both Ventura College in Ventura, California and Wor-Wic University in Salisbury, Maryland.

It was in 2005 when Brown officially began here law enforcement career when she became a Reserve Police Officer in California.

“I was a flight attendant and would reserve on my days off,” Brown said.

Always keeping busy, Brown was also heavily involved with the American Red Cross as a Disaster Specialist.

She was deployed in 2005 to the gulf coast when hurricane Katrina hit to assist with Safety and Security in one of the domes.

While she was there, she made contacts with people in Maryland and relocated to the eastern shore where she worked for the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office in Easton, Maryland. In 2007, she then transferred to the Annapolis City Police Department, where she spent most of her career there in Special Operations, being assigned to a high profile gun and drug unit in the many housing projects.

After several years there, Brown was growing tired of the fast past life back east and wished for something more calm and simple.

Because of this, she began to look for positions in Spokane.

She had been vacationing in Spokane for several year, combined with short visits to the Silver Valley to attend the Blues Festival in Wallace.

But in the summer of 2015, Brown said that after a visit to the Valley, she changed her mind on Spokane.

“I had an epiphany while floating down the CDA River that I was exactly where I needed to be…I changed my destination to the valley.”

Although she grew up in Spokane, Brown spent a significant amount of time at her grandparent’s house, playing in the hills above Montgomery Gulch and building dams in the creek.

Coming from a miner family, from 1951-1989, her grandpa, Ernest Karst, was a mine superintendent who started with Asarco Coeur Mining at the Page Mine until it closed and then went to the Galena and retired from Coeur Mining.

Her Uncle, Matt Karst, has been a miner since 1984 and is currently on strike at the Lucky Friday Mine.

Her second cousin, Danny Peterson, is head of Central Mine Rescue.

Cousin Dennis Karst is an inspector at MSHA.

Her Great Uncle, Roy Peterson, also retired from Galena.

Uncles John, Tom, Cliff, numerous cousins have worked locally underground as well.

Other family members who live in the Valley include her grandma- Maxine Karst, uncle, and cousins, who all live in Pinehurst.

Brown says that it was her love of the outdoors drew her back here and that her favorite part of the valley is the small town friendly environment.

“It took me a long time to get used to being waved at by strangers,” Brown joked.

“The only form of waving I was used to was with a different hand gesture.”

Brown says that the best part about being a Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) is that no day is ever the same as the last.

It keeps her on her toes and gives her a kind of adrenaline rush that can not be found in many other professions.

When it comes down to the gritty part of the job, Brown doesn’t mind it all too much because she says that the positives trump the negatives.

“Trust me, there are definitely bad days and seeing what human beings can do to each other and themselves takes its toll,” Brown explained, “but the good days outweigh the bad.”

Something that also can not be found in many other jobs, Brown says that she enjoys the camaraderie that comes with the uniform.

“There is also a brother and sisterhood that is unbreakable and doesn’t exist outside of law enforcement. We all support each other through thick and thin.”

Her days off are spent hiking, riding her bike on the rails-to-trails, and reading.

“Biking and fishing are my therapy,” She said.

Brown fell in love with a local boy who has two children that she is helping to raise.

“Brian recently introduced me to hunting and I got my once-in-a-lifetime record moose in November.”

She is also board member for the Shoshone County S.A.V.E (Support, Action, Volunteerism, Education) Coalition, show that she also still enjoys volunteering her time.

As for her new position with PDD, Brown is excited to get to work.

“There is definitely a sense of pride when I drive around town and talk to citizens. I also live near Pinehurst, I’m really excited to meet more residence of the city and show them that I’m here for them 24/7.”

She joked that it also doesn’t hurt that she can drive her brand new patrol car to the brand new doughnut shop in town.