Tammany Brooks Sworn in as Antioch Police Chief

On Monday, Tammany Brooks was sworn in as Police Chief for the City of Antioch in a ceremony held at the Lone Tree Golf Course.

On May 12, Antioch City Manager Ron Bernal made the decision final after Brooks was named interim chief after the retirement of Chief Allan Cantando. Books has been with the department since 1995.

On Monday during the swearing in ceremony, Richard Marchoke, Retired Police Lieutenant, highlighted how Tammany Brooks (T) wants to do so much for the community and his vision is amazing. Marchoke, who supervised T in the community policing borough, called him a dream.

“He was an absolute dream because you knew whatever assignment you gave him you knew it was going to get done and get done to the extreme,” said Marchoke.

Brooks Bio includes:

• 1995 – Tammany Brooks was hired
• 1995-98 – assigned to patrol
• 1998-2001 – assigned to problem oriented policing team
• 2001-2002 – investigations borough
• 2002 – promoted to Corporal
• 2005 – promoted to sergeant
• 2012 – promoted to Lieutenant
• 2014 – promoted to captain
• 2017 – promoted to Chief of Police

Retired Chief Mark Moczulski shared how Brooks always had the goal to become police chief for the city of Antioch and worked hard to achieve it.

Chief Tammany Brooks and retired chief Mark Moczulski

“I would like to take you back and tell a story about 12-years ago. Twice in my career I had the opportunity to promote T, once to corporal and then sergeant. On that day in May, I called T into my office to congratulate him on his promotion,” explained Moczulski. “We sat across from one another having a nice casual conversation and at one point I asked him what his career ambitions were. Without hesitation, in a self-assured and determined voice said to me one day I will sit in that chair behind the chief of police desk. That caught me off guard because that was a pretty lofty goal for a newly promoted sergeant. As we continued to talk, I realized there was no arrogance about T, there was no uncertainty, he felt self-assured that it was his goal.”

Moczulski highlighted how over the years, it became clear to him that Brooks was an individual that worked hard to better not only himself, but others who worked with him.

“Those in this room know that T is a very bright individual, very articulate, very knowledgeable, he is personable and is carrying with a big heart. But there is one quality that is going to benefit T and this community and you only get it, someone from the outside isn’t going to have this quality, its grown inside the department and that is loyalty,” said Moczulski. “T is one of the most loyal individuals I know. He is loyal to himself, to the people who work for him, to the people he works with, the people he works for and the people of this community. That is going to go a long way in him providing quality of services to this city.”

Retired Chief of Police Allan Cantando highlighted how he has faith in Brooks and thanked the City for making the right choice.

Retired Chief Allan Cantando discusses how Antioch made the right choice in promoting Tammany Brooks to chief.

“T is our new police chief and the support in this room is a testament to the faith everybody has in him as well as our community, I was very happy when I heard the news,” said Cantando. “T has a lot of confidence and have had the opportunity to work with T over the last several years and the success of the Antioch Police Department was a lot of it on his shoulders and the command staff’s shoulders. Now that he is taking over the reins, I think it’s a wonderful decision and I want to thank Ron Bernal for appointing him and saving a lot of time and effort when ultimately T would have got it anyways.”

Cantando then swore Chief Brooks into the position by presenting the oath of office. Following the oath, Cantando provided Brooks with a name plate for his desk.

The following are the comments made by Chief Tammany Brooks after taking the oath.

This reception was way more than I truly wanted or needed, but I am truly humbled by the outpouring of support from everyone. Then again, since I blabbed my mouth to anyone who would listen that I was going to be chief someday, the least I could do was celebrate with style with everyone when it happened,” said Brooks. “It’s quite embarrassing to hear from many people that I told them I was going to be chief someday.”

First and foremost, I would like to thank God. It’s because of him I am blessed with the opportunity to lead this police department and so it is to him I pray for the wisdom to do it well. Next, I would like to thank my boss, Mr. Ron Bernal. I thank you for having the confidence in trust in me to fill this very important role in your administration. I am forever grateful and will do everything in my power to make you proud for making that selection. I must also thank the city council for their support of that decision and of me and again it is something I will never forgot.

To my family, growing up and through today you have always loved me and believed in me so I want to say thank you very much. To my sons, being your father is one of the greatest and most special things in my life. You guys keep me grounded, but you also lift me up and I’ve always tried to be the best dad I could be and a positive role model. I love you boys and I am extremely proud of all three of you and thank you for always believing in me.

To my wife Michelle, thank you for being my rock, my biggest supporter and my true love. In 24-years of marriage, we have had our ups and downs, it’s not always been easy, but it’s certainly been worth it. So thank you for sticking by my side, for loving me, and being my strength when I needed it most, I love you very much.

I must thank the amazing men and women of the Antioch Police Department that I have had the fortune to work with and call my family for the past 22-years. I wish I could thank everyone who has influenced my career but we would be here a very long time. But in the essence of time I will keep this list short.

I am thankful to chief Dave Lewis. He took a chance on me and hired me as a local kid who was a high school dropout who had a terrible driving record. I am thankful to the people who I have considered mentors throughout the years. Kevin Rogers, Leonard Orman, Bill Hadley, John Welch, Tom Furhmann, and many others.

Chief Moczulski, even when I was an officer far removed from his day-to-day activities, Chief Moczulski made me feel valued. He saw fit to promote me twice during his tenure as chief. Chief Allan Cantando who not only promoted me twice, but took me under his wing and included me in much of what he was doing and thinking and did his best to make sure I was in a good position to take over when he left. I will never, ever forget that.

I am grateful to you all.

I’d like to thank everyone I have worked for, with, and who has worked for me. I am in this position today not because of anything special I did, but really because of something great that we all did. It truly is a collective work of everyone that has and will continue to be our greatest strength.

Tony (Morfield) and Diane (Aguinaga) I am thanking you right now for all that I have asked you to do and all that I will be asking you to do. And everyone else as well. But I know that I am in great hands.

Abraham Lincoln once said I am a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let them down.

As I look around this room, I see that I am surrounded by friends, peers, acquaintances and even some people I have yet to meet who have faith and believe in me. With that, I will tell you that I will do the best job that I can not only for this community and department but because that is who I am and I don’t have the heart to let you down.

I thank everyone here for their support and I am excited for what the future holds because Antioch is a great community. This is police department is an amazing organization and if you don’t know that already I urge you to pay attention because you will.

Thank you