San Diego Police Department

San Diego Police Department
Abbreviation	SDPD
Designed in 1988, these patches were originally brown to match the tan uniforms of the time.
Flag of San Diego, California
Motto	America's Finest
Agency overview
Employees	2781
Volunteers	840
Annual budget	$277 million
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction*	City of San Diego in the state of California, United States
Population	1,400,000 residents
General nature	Law enforcement Local civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters	1401 Broadway San Diego, CA 92101
Sworn members	approximately 2100 officers
Unsworn members	approximately 600 support staff and non-sworn officers
Agency executive	Shelley Zimmerman, Chief of Police
Divisions	List Central Eastern Mid-City Northern Northeastern Northwestern Southern Southeastern Western
Facilities
Stations	10+
Website
San Diego Police Department
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

San Diego Police ABLE helicopter

San Diego Police car in the city center

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) is the primary law enforcement agency for the city of San Diego, California. The department was officially established on May 16, 1889.

History

Prior to the establishment of the San Diego Police Department, law enforcement services were provided by the San Diego City Marshal beginning in 1850. The first City Marshal, Agoston Haraszthy, appointed Richard Freeman a marshal, making Freeman the first African American lawman in California. In ?, due to lack of willing individuals to take up the position, the City Marshall disbanded.

In 1885 the office of City Marshal was reestablished, and in 1889, with a new city charter, the police department was established. All but one police officer at the time of the establishment were White, except for one Hispanic sergeant. The sixth police chief, Edward Beshyhead, also founded the San Diego Union, a predecessor to the current San Diego Union-Tribune.

In 1939, the department moved into their headquarters on Harbor Drive, which they used until moving to their current building in 1986; in 1998 the former headquarters was placed onto the National Register of Historic Places. During World War II, one third of the department was drafted into the United States Military. In 1973, the first uniformed female officer joined the department.

During the 1980s, the police department was at the center of a case that came before the Supreme Court of the United States and Ninth Circuit, Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352 (1983), which held unconstitutional laws that allow police to demand that "loiterers" and "wanderers" provide identification; this continues to affect other departments nationwide. The decade also saw officers responding to the San Ysidro McDonald's massacre; it was also a decade where the department had the highest mortality rate for officers than any other major American city.

Ranks of the SDPD

Title	Insignia	Insignia located
Chief		Uniform Collar
Executive Assistant Chief		Uniform Collar
Assistant Chief		Uniform Collar
Captain		Uniform Collar
Lieutenant		Uniform Collar
Detective		Non-Uniformed
Police Officer III		No Special Insignia
Police Officer II		No Special Insignia
Police Officer I		No Special Insignia
Police Recruit		No Special Insignia

Line of duty deaths

Since the department's establishment, 32 officers have died in the line of duty.

Name	Date of Death	Cause
Officer Emery E. Campbell	27 Aug 1913	Gunfire
Sergeant Oliver S. Hopkins	02 Jul 1915	Vehicular assault
Patrolman Walter B. Holcomb	21 Oct 1918	Spanish flu from transporting the ill
Officer Joseph S. Lee	19 Mar 1921	Vehicle pursuit
Detective Charles R. Harris	03 Apr 1927	Gunfire
Officer Robert Lee Powers	16 Jun 1928	Vehicular assault
Patrolman Robert B. McPherson	19 Sep 1929	Assault
Patrolman Edward J. Moore	15 Jan 1933	Gunfire
Patrolman Thomas A. Keays	20 Nov 1937	Heart attack
Officer Henry J. Goodrich	07 Sep 1940	Motorcycle accident
Patrolman Robert F. Bowers	12 Dec 1955	Vehicle pursuit
Sergeant Harry Kay Jr.	11 Mar 1957	Automobile accident
Patrolman Michael J. Bushman	25 Nov 1963	Automobile accident
Sergeant Robert L. Everitt	07 Dec 1964	Struck by vehicle
Patrolman James P. Lewis	29 Dec 1970	Gunfire
Sergeant Freddie Joel Edwards	07 Oct 1971	Gunfire
Patrolman Denis W. Allen	02 Apr 1977	Gunfire
Patrolman Archie C. Buggs	04 Nov 1978	Gunfire
Patrolman Michael T. Anaya	11 Apr 1979	Gunfire
Patrolman Dennis Glenn Gonzales	25 Jun 1979	Struck by vehicle
Patrolman Harry Keith Tiffany	06 Jun 1981	Gunfire
Patrolman Ronald R. Ebeltoft	06 Jun 1981	Gunfire
Patrolman Kirk Leland Johnson	20 Feb 1983	Gunfire
Police Officer Kimberly Sue Tonahill	14 Sep 1984	Gunfire
Patrolman Timothy J. Ruopp	16 Sep 1984	Gunfire
Agent Thomas E. Riggs	31 Mar 1985	Gunfire
Patrolman Jerry L. Hartless	31 Jan 1988	Gunfire
Officer Ronald Wayne Davis	17 Sep 1991	Gunfire
Officer Gerald Kieffer Griffin Jr.	25 Apr 2003	Struck by vehicle
Officer Terry William Bennett	26 Jun 2003	Vehicular assault
Officer Christopher A. Wilson	27 Oct 2010	Gunfire
Officer Jeremy Henwood	06 Aug 2011	Gunfire
Officer Jason Prokop	01 Oct 2011	Struck by vehicle

Misconduct

On March 12, 1987, a team from the SDPD raided the home of Tommie DuBose, a civil servant working for the U.S. Navy. They were attempting to serve a warrant on his son, Charles. They apparently knocked on the door, then broke it down before anyone inside could open it. After a struggle, Officer Carlos Garcia shot DuBose five times, including four in the back, and he died immediately. An investigation concluded that the uniforms worn did not allow the policemen to be easily identified as law enforcement, that the team did not allow enough time for the family to open the door, and recommended no action be taken against any of the officers. They all returned to duty.

In February 2011, Sergeant Ken Davis was charged with one count of felony stalking and three counts of repeated harassment by phone or electronic contact relating to his conduct towards another police officer. Davis pleaded not guilty and was put on paid administrative duty while on trial. He later pleaded guilty in exchange for a sentence of three years of probation and ten days of community service.

On March 11, 2011, San Diego policeman Anthony Arevalos was arrested on 18 charges related to traffic stops he conducted between 2009 and 2011. He was accused of sexual assault in one instance and for asking women for their underwear in exchange for not being cited. In November, a jury found him guilty of several charges, including felony charges of sexual battery by restraint and assault and battery by an officer. Lawsuits against the city resulted in agreements to pay more than $2 million relating to Arevalos' crimes.

In 2011, Motorcycle Officer Christopher Hall, suspected of DUI after hitting a car and fleeing the scene in Costa Mesa, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

In July 2012, Officer Daniel Dana pleaded no contest to committing a lewd act in public, a misdemeanor charge, in exchange with having the felony charge of sexually assaulting a prostitute dropped. It stemmed from a May 2011 event in which Dana coerced a prostitute to have sex with him in his patrol car. Dana left the police force following the charge.

In March 2013, five officers were placed on desk duty during an investigation into an accusation that they covered up for an officer who had a traffic accident while driving drunk. Detective Jeffrey Blackford struck a utility box with his car at about 1:00 a.m. on the morning of December 7, 2012. Two off-duty friends, Sergeant John Iammarino and Detective Daniel Caropres, stopped their car to render assistance but did not report the accident. Later, Sergeants William Brown and Christopher Tivanian (who were on-duty) came to the crash site. They reported the accident at about 2:15 a.m., but the driver was not administered a blood-alcohol test until about 3:00 a.m. He was just over the legal limit.

In November 2014, two married SDPD officers, Bryce and Jennifer Charpentier, were arrested for burglarizing homes in the San Diego area. They were trying to steal prescription painkillers to feed their drug addiction. They were both subsequently terminated from SDPD, and sentenced to three years in prison.

On March 15, 2015, at 5:00 a.m., SDPD officers responded to a domestic disturbance call, waking resident Ian Anderson and his six-year-old service dog, Burberry. Anderson opened the door and informed the officers that they had the wrong address. Video surveillance showed Burberry walking up to one of the officers, who reached forward and petted the dog. Burberry then approached a second officer, who drew his gun and shot and killed the dog. The other officers had established that the dog as being friendly.

On March 17, 2015, U-T San Diego reported: "A San Diego Police Department dispatcher and anonymous Wikipedia users have edited or deleted paragraphs from the misconduct section of the police department's Wikipedia page five times since January 2014. ... The edits, which eliminated references to negative information, came as the police force faced several scandals over officer misconduct."

Also on March 17, a U.S. Department of Justice review recommended that the SDPD overhaul its supervision practices following misconduct in which officers took advantage of women sexually.

Cadet program

The San Diego Police Department Cadet Program (SDPD) is a voluntary, non-enforcement entry level position with the San Diego Police Department for people ages 16–21. After a six-session academy, Cadets may choose to go on ride-alongs, assist with security and traffic control, work undercover and much more.

See also

• List of law enforcement agencies in California

References

• San Diego Police Department Exam & Hiring Police Test Guide

External links

• San Diego Police Department
• San Diego Police Museum Online