A Burlington teen's video testimonial of feeling "let down" by the local officers' response to his alleged treatment by U.S. Secret Service agents has garnered thousands of views on Facebook and spurred the Burlington Police Department to issue a public statement.

Burlington police responded on Tuesday to a live Facebook video posted publicly by the 16-year-old, who identifies himself on the social network as Phin Brown.

“Many of our officers have known this young man since he was a toddler,” said Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo in a statement. “He has no negative history with the police. He is growing up in an extremely challenging environment, and sympathetic officers have tried to help him when possible and to look out for his best interests. It is clear he feels let down by our response last night, and we take that concern seriously."

Brown described in his video an interaction outside his home Monday evening during which he said he felt targeted by federal authorities because of his race.

When Brown left his home again to go to a friend's car, he says a man who had been surveilling his home for two hours approached him without identifying himself, pushed Brown against his friend's vehicle and began to frisk him. In a separate statement, Brown later said the agent went through his pockets, which he believed may have been a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.

Brown said he attempted to explain to the federal agents why their approach method may be considered intimidating, especially for a person of color.

"He looked me in my eyes and he said, 'I don't see race,'" Brown said.

A person who answered the phone Wednesday morning when the Free Press attempted to contact the Secret Service field office in Burlington said "We are not able to comment on any ongoing investigations that we have, ma'am"

Brown said in his video, "Mind you, I'm 16 years old, I don't know what's going on. I told him I was going to call the police department, which I did."

Brown and the Burlington Police Department say several officers responded to the scene. The two people introduced themselves as Secret Service agents.

Brown said the police officers who responded told him that it was "perfectly legal" for federal agents to search him. He also said that when he told the Burlington police about his concern that he was targeted because of his race, an officer replied, "Don't make this about race because it's not about race."

Burlington Police Chief del Pozo said Wednesday that officers do not interfere with the work of federal special agents performing official duties as they have no authority to do so. He said that the Secret Service do not typically alert local law enforcement when in that local agency's jurisdiction to do normal field work, such as surveillance. For major operations or take-downs, the local law enforcement agency would typically get notified, he said.

Monday's activities would likely fall under the umbrella of "normal field work," according to del Pozo.

But for Brown, the local police's response was inadequate.

"I feel like the police are supposed to make you feel safe and they're supposed to make you feel like, if you call them, they will be there to support you instead of making the situation about, 'Oh, you're lying.' ... I just wanted to get that off my chest and let everyone know that the Burlington Police Department has failed me, and I'm just ashamed that this is the climate that we live in and the stuff that's allowed to go on."

The police department has been meeting with Brown's family since the incident "to ensure they understand both our responsibilities and their limits,” a statement said.

Contact Elizabeth Murray at 651-4835 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizMurrayBFP.