He is, by his own admission, "running on fumes." His brain "is fried." And he warned that this might be the last we hear from him for a while as he sets about the grim business of burying his dead.

"I don't know how I'm going to get through the week," said Dallas Police Chief David Brown Monday, taking questions from the world's media still assembled on his doorstep outside Dallas police headquarters, where a makeshift memorial has buried police cruisers beneath flowers, cars, placards. "We can hopefully get past this with God's good grace."

The late-called press conference was intended to provide an update on Thursday night's shooting that left five officers dead, four under Brown's command. And it did, for a moment. But Brown quickly went off script, and let the world know he is gassed and spent, yes, but also fed up and furious.

What began as an update turned into a clenched-jaw soliloquy on the toils of being a cop in Dallas -- a place where officers are the "lowest-paid in the area," he said, and among the most put-upon.

It was an unexpected turn during what was billed as a briefing about a mass shooting in a downtown that's still an active crime scene. And a powerful one, especially to Dallas residents still reeling from the mass murder of five officers.

Brown, exhausted and unguarded, echoed what protesters said in the hours before a lone gunman opened fire on cops: Enough is enough.

"We're asking cops to do too much in this country," he said. "We are. You're asking us to do too much."

Brown, speaking into the world media's bullhorn that magnified a plea into a shout, noted that Dallas police have been asked to shoulder every single "societal failure," from mental health to drug treatment to, even, the failure of the public school system and the fact that kids in southern Dallas are being raised by single moms.

And, "here in Dallas, we've got a loose dog problem," he said. The response to that has been like the response to every other ailment that plagues the city, Brown said: "Let the cops handle it."

Which is absolutely, undeniably true: When the people at Dallas City Hall tasked with actually dealing with loose and stray dogs -- Dallas Animal Services, code compliance, assistant city managers -- proved to be under-prepared and overwhelmed, and Antoinette Brown was mauled to death in South Dallas, the city did what the city does best. It told the cops to handle it, which is how the dog problem landed in Deputy Chief Rob Sherwin's lap -- Rob Sherwin, who is also overseeing the massive investigation into Thursday night's massacre.

It wasn't even the first time Animal Services has had to call DPD for backup. When, in 2010, the manager of the city's animal shelter was indicted on felony charges of animal cruelty when he allowed a cat to die in the shelter's walls, Scott Walton, now a deputy chief, was named interim shelter manager.

"Policing," said Brown on Monday, "was never meant to solve all those problems." Policing, he said, is hard enough without having to do everyone else's work. And it's harder still, given the low pay and the shrinking ranks as officers decamp for better-paying jobs in other cities surrounding Dallas.

Earlier this year, Brown told the City Council he's being forced to "do less with less," and reminded it the force is down 200 officers since 2010.

"Officers have been leaving because we're the lowest-paid in the area," he said. "We have a $44,000 starting pay" -- $44,658, to be precise, for a police officer trainee just putting on his newly starched uniform. Officers, he said, are "not feeling appreciated." They are "committed to their profession," he said, but also struggling to provide for their families.

"The city manager, mayor, council want to correct that as soon as possible," he said.

But we shall see. At its February retreat, a majority of the council said it wanted to increase cops' compensation, as well as add 50 more officers above normal attrition rates. But we'll get our first glimpse at City Manager A.C. Gonzalez's balanced budget next month, when the council returns from summer break.

Brown's remarks, reiterated in the midst of a horror story Monday morning, are not likely to fall on deaf ears. Not now. Not after Thursday night, when police officers were gunned down in downtown Dallas protecting protesters rallying against the police.

But Brown's press conference didn't stop at the doors of City Hall, with the local policymakers.

He demanded politicians get involved in making the country safer. He told them to "quit asking cops to do it for you."

The chief also said he's often asked about gun control. Out of his hands, he said. "Ask the policymakers to do something" about guns, he said, "then I'll give you an opinion on it."

Brown wasn't specific. He didn't need to be.

A police chief in a city where five officers were killed just asked Washington to do "something about guns." Anything.

Not everyone loved everything Brown had to say. Some on Twitter took issue with his comments that protesters pick up a job application and become a cop like he did to "resolve some of the problems you're protesting about." They thought it a glib response to genuine concerns from people tired of seeing people die at the hands of police. But still others took to social media demanding he run for president.

It was a powerful moment for Brown -- one of many in recent days. Also, a defining one. He was tired. But fired up.

"One of the most difficult jobs in the country right now is being a police chief in a major city," he said. Especially one where five police officers were just murdered.