Paul Douglas Lilly

Paul Douglas Lilly is an American judge who has been the presiding judge for the Brown County Court in Texas since January 1, 2019. Lilly has over thirty-two years of experience in the public service industry and over twenty years as an Officer, Chief of Police & Chief Executive/Director.

Lilly was elected the Constitutional County Judge of Brown County in 2018. He won by the most significant margin in county history and was sworn into office on January 1, 2019.

He also received injuries in the line of duty and was awarded the Purple Heart Medal. In addition, he also received a Medal of Valor for his courage and decisiveness under fire. To honor his more than twenty-five years of public safety service to the State of Texas and the United States of America, Lilly was awarded the J. Edgar Hoover Gold Medal for Distinguished Public Service in September 2015.

Before retiring from his position as a municipal police chief, Lilly was selected by the United States Department of Justice to be commissioned as a Special Deputy United States Marshal. It was a supervisor position, and his job included assisting in the safety and security of the January 2009 U.S. Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C.

Lilly elected to retire from full-time law enforcement service in 2009. Lilly completed his doctorate and pursued teaching at a senior university. From 2011 until 2019, Lilly served as a full-time Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Howard Payne University and as the Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety for the University.

Then, in 2008 Lilly was selected to join the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas’ team of Police Chiefs to travel to Italy and present western technologies and ideologies to the Italian law enforcement community.

Lilly completed his Master of Science in Criminal Justice (M.S.C.J.) and majored in Criminal Justice and Political Science from Texas State University in 2002. He pursued his doctorate from the University of Arizona GC and became a Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D) in Psychology, Criminology, and Justice Studies in 2014.

Paul Lilly was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and resides in Brownwood, Texas. Lilly attended college at the Texas Law Enforcement Leadership and Command College, Texas Wesleyan University, and worked night shifts as a patrol officer. He graduated in 1999 in Graduate Class #33. Prior to that, he received his Bachelor of Science BS in Political Science and Law from Texas Wesleyan University in 1994.

In 1998, Lilly was included in the American Police Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and the United States Congressional Commendation for his community-oriented and problem-oriented policing efforts.

In 1994, Lilly was selected as the Chief of Police for the Dallas area suburb community of Kaufman. He was the youngest officer to be elected Chief of Police in Texas. In this position, he worked in the field of Community Oriented Policing, which launched a career specializing in this and geographic-oriented Policing.