In high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and did two tours of duty in the Vietnam War. He studied at Seton Hall University, and got a degree in history. After the war, he joined the Newark Police. Brass spent 20 years working his way up to homicide detective in New Jersey. Before he became a homicide detective, he was assigned to Vice. Brass, under stress, sometimes drank and would cover it up by popping cough drops to hide the smell of alcohol on his breath.
Brass transferred out of New Jersey in the 1990s and came to Las Vegas.
Showing as an example of how much he trusts the team, Brass has stated that he would want Gil Grissom's CSI team to investigate his murder; he gave Grissom power of attorney rights should anything happen to him, which proved useful when Grissom chose to go ahead with his risky but life-saving surgery when he was shot.
Brass used to have Grissom's job as the supervisor of the CSI team. After young CSI Holly Gribbs was murdered on her first day in the field, he lost his position to Grissom. Brass was then given the position as a homicide detective, usually serving as the legal muscle for the CSI team and the one who does most of the arresting and interrogating of suspects.
In the two-part episode "A Bullet Runs Through It", Brass tries to counsel Detective Sofia Curtis, who believes she may have accidentally killed another officer in a chaotic shoot-out with a gang of drug dealers. He later is stunned and guilt-ridden to realize that he was actually the one that killed the officer. Later at the officer's funeral, his widow approached, and when Brass tried to explain how sorry he was, she told him that she knew it wasn't his fault.
While Brass could never be accused of being a "soft cop", he has a reputation for adhering to the rules and witty sarcasm when interviewing suspects.
Brass has a good working relationship with other members of the team. Protective of his colleagues, he is usually the one to draw his gun and does not like it when the CSIs try to take dangerous matters like arresting armed suspects into their own hands. He also gets on Grissom's case for not drawing his firearm, even in appropriate situations.
Brass has an estranged daughter, Ellie Rebecca Brass, who is not biologically his (unbeknownst to her). "Call it the mailman's. Ellie doesn't know." In fact, Ellie's biological father is former New Jersey Vice cop Mike O'Toole, who Brass discovered to be dirty. Ellie works as a prostitute in Los Angeles, to the deep disappointment of her father. Despite her rebellious behavior, Brass still loves her deeply, and keeps a picture of her as a child on his desk in his office. When he discovers that she is doing drugs, he keeps after her until she cleans up, but their relationship remains difficult and strained.
When he is in the hospital in critical condition (due to being shot by a man wanted for triple homocide) Ellie seems more concerned with the pension than her father's likelihood of survival—which is probably why Brass gave his power of attorney to colleague and friend Gil Grissom, who saved Brass's life by having him undergo surgery to remove the bullet.
At the end of that episode, Brass is surrounded by his other family: the CSI night shift team, who watched over him through his ordeal.
CSI Craige, over and out.
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