MDPD Officer Who Made Viral Facebook Video

Lydia Marquez

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Veteran Miami-Dade Police Officer Lydia Marquez said it was an innocent question from her 4-year-old son that convinced her to make a Facebook video that has been seen and shared tens of thousands of times since she posted it on Thursday. She said her son asked her why she was going to work.
Her response, “Because Mommy cares. Mommy cares.”
She used that video as a platform to describe why she’s an officer, how race doesn’t matter to officers and the dangers many officers feel exist today that didn’t exist before.
“When I received my badge, I swore an oath,” she said in the video. “I swore that I would protect and serve all people – not blacks, not whites. Not all that. The oath is colorblind.”
Marquez’s words are one more element of a struggle that is occurring nationally, where many communities appear at odds with police as some citizens believe police officers are unfairly treating minorities while officers are feeling threatened and targeted.
Marquez says the targeting of officers nationwide like the shooting death of Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth in Houston and the shooting death of Illinois police officer Lt. Joe Gliniewicz leave her and other officers fearing for their safety more than ever.
“When I kiss my children in the morning before I go to work and tell them I love them I don’t know if I’ll be coming back at the end of the day, I don’t know especially nowadays,” she said. “It’s hard. It’s really hard.”
Friday afternoon CBS4 News met the woman behind the Facebook post.
“I spoke for those of us who couldn’t and I’m proud of that,” she said. “Thank you so much for everyone’s support. It’s been phenomenal.”
Marquez said it took her days and lots of courage to say what she did but she realized that even if other officers couldn’t speak their minds, she had to.
Her comments came just hours before someone smashed a window in a Miami-Dade Police car outside the officer’s home in Miami Springs.
Earlier this year, someone torched two South Florida police cars in front of their homes and someone shot up two other police cars.
“The fact that we’re targeted – because we are being targeted – you don’t go ‘eeny, meeny, miny, moe’ and pick the police car to break into it,” she said. “The stress we already deal with is large and with everything that’s happening it has grown so luck that I’m amazed how most of us officers are coming to work.”
She believes there is a segment of the population that sees police officers as the enemy but she said that won’t change what she does.
“I can’t quit on everybody and that alone gives me more strength,” she said.
Ultimately, she hopes the community realizes it’s not police working against citizens but instead working with them.
“We’re here to help you,” she said. “We’re here to protect you. We’re here for you. And people forgot that. And I want to remind them.”

"As you can see I am a police officer." With those words 20 year Miami Dade Police Officer Lydia Marquez became an internet sensation thanks to her impassioned defense of police officer. "When I received my badge, I swore an oath. I swore that I would protect and serve all people -- not blacks, not whites. Not all that. The oath is colorblind” says Marquez. Marquez says the targeting of officers nationwide like the shooting death of Harris County deputy Darren Goforth in Houston and the shooting death of Illinois police officer Lt. Joe Gliniewicz leave her and other officers fearing for their safety more than ever. "When I kiss my children in the morning before I go to work and tell them I love them I don't know if i'll be coming back at the end of the day, I don't know especially nowadays. It's hard. It's really hard. Thank you so much for everyone's support. It's been phenomenal" says Marquez. “I spoke for those of us who couldn't and I'm proud of that“ says Marquez. Marquez said it took her days and lots of courage to say what she did. But she realized that even if other officers couldn't speak their minds… had to. And her comments came just hours before someone smashed a window in a Miami Dade Police car outside the officer’s home in Miami Springs. Earlier this year someone torched two south Florida police cars in front of their homes and someone shot up two other police cars. The fact that we're targeted; because we are being targeted, you don't go eeny, meeny miny, moe and pick the police car to break into it. The stress we already deal with is large and with everything that's happening it has grown so much that I'm amazed how most of us officers are coming to work. She believes there is a segment of the population that sees police officers as the enemy but that won't change what she does. “I can't quit on everybody and that alone gives me more strength” she says. Ultimately she hopes the community realizes it's not police working against citizens but instead working with them. "We're here to help you. We're here to protect you. We're here for you. And people forgot that. And I want to remind them."

Lydia Marquez

I need to set something straight. I am NOT a Saint. As you know I have been with Miami Dade Police Department for 20 years. NO, I HAVEN'T BEEN SITTING BEHIND A DESK MY WHOLE CAREER. When I graduated from the academy I was trained by my Field Training Officers the old school ways. In other words, either you sink or swim. I swam like a fish. I've worked the bad areas and the better ones. I've been shot at. I've been in more fights than I care to think about. A few of them, I thank God for all the defensive tactics courses I've taken at our Training Bureau. (OUR TRN COURSES FOR SHOOTING AND DEFENSIVE TACTICS ARE AWESOME.)I destroyed my knee in one of those fights and needed my ACL replaced. I cracked a molar straight down the center after getting clocked. I had to have it surgically removed. I've had my share of crashes. Some my fault but most were not. I drive my marked unit from one end of the district to the other. (I've had surgery on my spine due to 1 of those crashes after I lost feeling in my leg. Thru the years I've had my back injected a couple of times for the pain.) I've been in the Emergency room due to one injury or another a couple of times. I have my good days and not so good days. You try wearing our duty belts for 8, 10, 12 hours a day. The average weight is about 20 lbs give or take a few. Oh, don't forget our Bullet proof vest. Yea... Summer is not my favorite season in the year. Don't forget I live in Florida. Winter is a joke here in Miami. Ever had a heat rash? I've had a few thru the years.
I've been given verbal reprimands and written ones. (crashes, court and violating our rule books.) I give face and accept my reprimands when I know I screwed up. I've saved lives and I've seen people die infront of me. I spoke up after my brothers were killed brutally because I needed too tell you the truth about being a Cop and the sacrifices our families make for us and you. Go ask an officer about those sacrifices. How many family events missed like birthdays and holiday's in order to protect the roads for you. We all have our own stories to tell.
But you ask why "I" do it after the few things I wrote? Maybe it's because in my little world, I want to make it a better place for my children and yours. I adore the people I work with. I love my job and YES I definitely care about people. But I am NOT a Saint. But I am a COP and damn proud of being part of OUR family in Blue.

Jacquie Baly ~ Well I've received quite a few comments on our segment discussing OPEN WARFARE ON LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. 99.9% have been extremely positive. (And yes I received 1 very nasty message--surprise surprise). But I wanted to share one message that I received from an officer who puts his life on the line each and every day to protect us. At the ending of the day we really need to remember these are good men and women who are working hard to protect us. (And of course after his message is the clip causing the stir.) So here is the message below...Stay blessed folks!

MESSAGE FROM OFFICER--Jacquie, I just wanted to let you know that I saw a small clip of what you mentioned on Holder and Law Enforcement and I want to commend you on it. I have been a police officer for over 20 years and put this badge on hoping that I come home at night. I have been shot at, attacked with knives and even intentionally bitten by a guy with full blown AIDS. I am now more afraid to go out in this uniform than I have ever been. Yes, we get scared. and yes we are all scared now more than ever. Please keep fighting for us and I will continue to fight to make your community a safer place...

Mo. cop kicked out of Olive Garden because of duty gun

New York Daily News

NICOLE HENSLEY 7 hrs ago

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© Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg A uniformed Kansas City, Mo., cop hoping to celebrate his birthday with lunch at Olive Garden on Sunday was kicked out because of his duty firearm. A uniformed Kansas City, Mo., cop hoping to celebrate his birthday with lunch at Olive Garden on Sunday was kicked out because of his duty firearm.
A hostess caught sight of Officer Michael Holsworth’s holstered handgun as he waited for his family and asked the decorated officer to leave the restaurant at once, he ranted in a Facebook post Sunday afternoon.
“I never in my wildest thoughts would of thought this would happen in the Kansas City area. I see it happening all over the United States to other officers, but never thought it would of happened to me,” he wrote after leaving the restaurant.
It’s legal to openly carry handguns in Missouri, but the Olive Garden hostess told Holsworth guns were prohibited in the restaurant.
The restaurant’s refusal to serve Holsworth brought on a flurry of outrage spearheaded by the city’s Fraternal Order of Police, which promised to organize protests outside the southeast Kansas City restaurant.
The order’s president, Brad Lemon, and Kansas City Police Chief Darrl Forte came to Holsworth’s defense in public messages aimed at the chain’s national Twitter account.
“Facts are being gathered,” Forte wrote.
It’s not clear why the restaurant franchise took a stance against Holsworth’s gun. Olive Garden insists it was a misunderstanding.
“Law enforcement are always welcome to dine (with) us — we heart serving them and have great relationships,” an Olive Garden spokesman said.
The chain’s president, Dave George, has since called Holsworth to apologize, said Lemon, the order's liaison to Kansas police.
Lemon took a pointed stand against Holsworth’s treatment, demanding respect for all law enforcement officers.
“It's been an incredibly difficult day for our brother, and our entire family. All we ever ask is to be treated fairly and with the same respect to due anyone else. When we are treated poorly because of our chosen occupation, it hurts,” Lemon wrote in another statement to Facebook.
“It's not okay to treat law enforcement poorly. We deserve, and have earned, the same level of respect due to each and every member of society.”
Holsworth declined to speak of Sunday’s ordeal further after his public Facebook post went viral with more than 5,600 shares.
Holsworth earned his department’s Distinguished Service Medal in 2014 for being one of three police officers who shot and killed a burglar linked to a triple homicide, according to city records.

nhensley@nydailynews.com

Dunkin' Donuts Worker to Officer:

'We Don't Serve Cops Here'

As seen on Fox and Friends A Connecticut Dunkin’ Donuts quickly apologized to a local police officer who was told he would not be served at the location. The store's manager said his employee was just joking when she reportedly said, “He didn’t get the message. We don’t serve cops here," in front of other customers. The comment prompted the West Hartford police officer, who’d been waiting in line, to walk out in disgust. As he headed for his car, the manager brought the employee over to apologize, and the worker explained the comment was made in jest.

As part of the apology, the worker reportedly offered a free cup of coffee. But the officer would have none of it and said he’d take his business elsewhere. Dunkin’ Brands Group said that that the crew member showed poor judgment and that Dunkin’ franchises are committed to fair treatment of their customers. The incident comes after employees at Arby’s and Whataburger refused service to police officers in separate episodes in September.

Female Officer Attacked By Black Motorist – Thrown Down Steep Embankment, Manhunt Underway

Posted on Aug 30, 2015 by Rick Wells in Police, Racism Racial Preference

A police officer was assaulted and thrown down a steep embankment in Schuylkill County, PA. Officer Melissa Ruch sustained injuries which were not reported to be life-threatening.
A little before 6pm on Friday, the West Penn Police Officer was traveling on Route 309 north when she came upon a disabled or parked vehicle on the side of the road next to the guard rail. She stopped to investigate, and as she did, a black male came around the vehicle, picked officer Ruch up and threw her down the steep embankment.
Ruch’s “officer down alert” was triggered, with units from all over the area converging immediately on the scene. By the time they arrived the assailant had fled in the vehicle but a concentrated effort is underway to locate and apprehend him.
Many area roads have been closed as the search for the assailant continues. Ruch says she was able to tase the perpetrator, evidence which may become useful in a positive identification once he is caught.

Rick Wells is a conservative writer who recognizes that our nation, our Constitution and our traditions are under a full scale assault from multiple threats. Please “Like” him on Facebook, “Follow” him on Twitter or visit www.rickwells.us & www.truthburgers.com

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Loise Kolender and Bill Kolender, Former Governor Arnold when he was Governator Schwarzenegger and Former Governor Pete Wilson

Loise Kolender and Bill Kolender, Former Governor Arnold when he was Governator Schwarzenegger and Former Governor Pete Wilson
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Former San Diego Police Chief, County Sheriff Bill Kolender Passed Away

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

By City News Service

Photo credit: 10News

Bill Kolender is pictured in this undated photo.

Bill Kolender, a fixture of San Diego law enforcement who served lengthy and notable stints as police chief and county sheriff, died Tuesday at age 80.
Kolender had suffered from Alzheimer's disease since retiring in 2009, 15 years after first being elected sheriff and 21 years after resigning as chief of the San Diego Police Department.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer praised Kolender as "a pillar" of local public service and governance.
"As San Diego's police chief in the 1970s and 1980s, Bill Kolender was a leader who championed community-oriented policing and established the city's first civilian review panel on police practices," Faulconer said. "His influence still resonates decades later, and he will be dearly missed."
Current Sheriff Bill Gore recalled his former boss as a lawman who "seemed, in many respects, larger than life." "Yet, what we will remember most about him will be his personal touch," Gore said. "When a deputy was injured, (Kolender) could be counted on to be standing at the hospital bed."
San Diego police Chief Shelley Zimmerman described described Kolender in similar terms, calling him "a law enforcement legend."
"Bill's 50-plus years of service to our law enforcement community are evidence of his selfless commitment to helping others," Zimmerman said. "He influenced so many lives — including my own, when he hired me in 1982. I am so grateful I had the privilege of working for him."
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis credited Kolender with being "a pioneer in changing how law enforcement interacted with the community and providing his deputies and officers the tools they needed to (operate) professional organizations."
"During his time as sheriff and San Diego police chief, Kolender engaged the community and challenged his officers to provide the best possible public safety for San Diego County," she said. "He was a warm, funny and calming presence during some of San Diego's most painful events."
Among those traumatic milestones were the crash of PSA Flight 182 in North Park in 1978, a mass shooting that killed 22 people at a San Ysidro McDonald's restaurant in 1984 and historic wildfires that ravaged the region in 2003 and 2007.
Kolender, a Chicago native and San Diego State University graduate, became one of the SDPD's youngest sergeants at age 26. He continued rising steadily and rapidly through the agency's ranks, becoming chief in 1976. As leader of the department, Kolender established a "vision of community policing (that has) improved the way we police today," Zimmerman said.
On that topic, the county's present sheriff said Kolender "is widely recognized as the author of community-oriented policing and (an official who) forged strong relations with leaders in San Diego's minority communities."
"Bill set the standard for true partnership amongst agencies," Gore said. "When the (police) chiefs and sheriff meet on a regular basis, egos are left at the door — a legacy from Bill Kolender."
Kolender also strove early in his tenure as chief to outlaw racism and sexism in the ranks of the SDPD, promising to fire violators following a second offense, according to the San Diego Police Historical Association.
In the early 1980s, he established the department's service-dog program.
His tenure as chief, however, was not free of scandal. In 1986, then- City Manager John Lockwood reprimanded Kolender for fixing traffic tickets for relatives and others, improperly using municipal staffers and equipment for personal benefit, failing to report gifts on conflict-of-interest disclosures and helping a friend skirt a 15-day waiting period for buying a gun. Kolender responded by telling reporters he was embarrassed and regretted the improprieties.
After retiring from the department in 1988, he worked for a time as an assistant publisher for the Union-Tribune.
In 1991, he was appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson as a director of the California Youth Authority. In the role, he lobbied for rehabilitation programs for youthful offenders.
"Bill was one of the first to realize incarceration is not the complete answer to rehabilitation," Gore said. "Educational programs and (community) re-entry initiatives were another of his innovations."
Kolender was sworn in as San Diego County sheriff in 1995, and went on to be re-elected to the post three times.
Among Kolender's first and primary achievements with the county agency following the divisive election he won was overcoming "the challenge of bringing together the department and turning it into a professional team with a common purpose and shared mission," according to Gore.
"Under his leadership, public confidence in this department was enhanced," Gore said.
Kolender wound up stepping down two years before the end of his final term, citing a need to care for his ailing wife, Lois.
Funeral arrangements were pending. Kolender's family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 6632 Convoy St., San Diego, CA 92111
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Bill Kolender Passed Away at 80; former San Diego police chief led reforms

ormer San Diego Police Chief Bill Kolender, seen in undated file photo, died Tuesday at age 80. He led the Police Department from 1975 to 1988. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Bill Kolender, who reformed the San Diego Police Department as chief from 1975 to 1988 and later became San Diego County sheriff, died Tuesday at age 80 after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

Under Kolender, the department moved away from the more physically aggressive type of law enforcement that once seemed to fit a military town like San Diego but was no longer favored by City Hall while Pete Wilson, a fellow Republican, was mayor.

Kolender stressed that police officers should work closely with community groups, improve relationships with minorities and low-income neighborhoods, and be restrained in the use of force -- a style known as community-oriented policing.
Kolender had been appointed as part of Wilson's overall campaign to change city government. With Kolender as chief, the department hired more women, gays and lesbians and began a civilian review board
"Convincingly self-effacing, with a Solomon-like reputation for integrity and empathy, there is perhaps no more popular public figure in San Diego today," The Times said in a 1985 profile. "Even his officers on the beat, where Kolender spent relatively little time before ascending to management, appear to genuinely like him."

As chief, Kolender was encouraged by political power brokers to run for mayor but he declined. "I'm a cop, not a politician," he often said.

After retiring as chief in 1988, Kolender worked for the Copley Press for three years before being named director of the California Youth Authority by then-Gov. Wilson.

He defeated an incumbent sheriff in 1994 and was reelected three times. He retired during his fourth term in 2009, leading to the appointment of Bill Gore, a close friend, as sheriff.

In announcing Kolender's death, Gore called him "a legend in law enforcement."

Tall and impeccably dressed -- often seen on the La Jolla party circuit in a tuxedo -- Kolender balanced the competing power groups of San Diego politics: community groups, the media, elected officials, business and academic leaders, and rank and file officers and their labor union.

"He cared deeply for the frontline deputies and officers who worked for him and loved them as family," Gore said.

Former Mayor Jerry Sanders said that the San Diego policing style changed dramatically under Kolender. Sanders was a beat cop in those early years and later became chief before going into community service and then politics.

"Bill had worked in community relations and had contacts in every community, every neighborhood," Sanders said. "He knew how to work with everybody. Community-oriented policing started with Bill and spread. His influence was felt in departments throughout the nation."

Having established his credibility, Kolender was able to withstand several controversies as chief: over fixing traffic tickets, the alleged conduct of some officers, and how police responded to the mass shooting at a McDonald's in San Ysidro in July 1984 in which a gunman killed 21 persons and wounded 15 until he was killed by a police sharpshooter.

Some survivors said police had been too slow to react, but Kolender stoutly rejected that view: "I think they handled themselves with great courage and great restraint when necessary." The controversy faded away.

William Barnett Kolender was born May 23, 1935 in Chicago. The family moved to San Diego where his father ran a jewelry store downtown.

Kolender liked telling jokes, often about his upbringing in an orthodox Jewish family and how his father was disappointed when he left college and joined the San Diego Police Department at age 21.

"My father went ballistic when I joined the cops," Kolender told San Diego Magazine in 2006. "He says, 'Bilvel, it's a gentile's job. Be somebody. I'm embarrassed. I can't go outside.'"

Kolender then added with a laugh, "Then later, of course, the family joke was when I was named chief of police, it was all OK."

In his final years, Kolender lived in an assisted living facility. He died at a local hospital, surrounded by his family.

Kolender is survived by his wife, Lois, sons Michael and Dennis, daughter Randie Kolender-Hock and stepdaughter Jodi Karas.

One of the women hired by the Police Department while Kolender was chief was a recent Ohio State graduate named Shelley Zimmerman, who joined the force in 1982. After decades at various assignments and ranks, she was named chief by Mayor Kevin
Faulconer.

"His vision of community policing improved the way we police today," Zimmerman said. "I am grateful I had the privilege of working for him."
Twitter: @LATsandiego

Bill Kolender, longtime lawman,

Passed Away at the age 80

Sheriff Bill Kolender spoke to a reporter about his plans to retire. (Nelvin C. Cepeda)

By Union-Tribune staff

The man who changed the face of local law enforcement in San Diego County and then went on to become one of the most powerful public leaders in the county died Tuesday morning.
Former police chief and sheriff William Kolender was 80. He died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.
“He made the world a better place. His heart was always golden and his intentions were pure. I told him that today before he died,” said daughter Randie Kolender-Hock, who was at his bedside at Scripps Mercy Hospital when he passed. “‘Dad, everything you did was good and right.’”
He wore a badge for nearly half a century and, at one time, he was the oldest sheriff in California and one of the oldest in the country.
To his peers, he was the Godfather.
"Bill is a law enforcement legend," said San Diego police Chief Shelley Zimmerman. "His vision of community policing improved the way we police today. Bill’s 50 plus years of service to our San Diego and law enforcement community are evidence of his selfless commitment to helping others."

EDITORIAL In memoriam: Bill Kolender

Kolender’s career in law enforcement began in 1956 when he became a San Diego police officer. He worked for the department until 1988 — the last 13 years as chief. At age 40, he was the youngest big-city police chief when he was appointed in 1975 and he was the department’s first Jewish chief.
He served as assistant to the publisher of the Union-Tribune Publishing Co. in the late 1980s and was appointed director of the California Youth Authority in 1991.
Kolender was first elected sheriff in 1994 after being heavily recruited by the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association and other community leaders.
Dan Mitrovich, former San Diegan and owner of a consulting firm, said it was his idea in 1994 to have Kolender run for sheriff against incumbent Jim Roache.
"Bill was a great friend," said Mitrovich. "He was heading the California Youth Authority for Gov. Pete Wilson. He flew down here (from Sacramento) and we had a three-hour meeting."
He said Kolender agreed to talk over the election prospect with his wife, and they soon agreed to the challenge. "He was elected with 62 percent of the vote," said Mitrovich, a commander in the San Diego County Honorary Deputy Sheriff's Association and a Crime Stoppers board member.
Kolender was re-elected three times with no serious opposition.
Former governor and Sen. Pete Wilson, who was San Diego mayor when Kolender became police chief, said he had recognized Kolender's leadership skills as a police sergeant and wanted him to run for state Assembly. Kolender turned him down.
"He said, 'I think my role is here, in law enforcement,'" Wilson recalled. "He thought he could make a contribution and had ideas on how he could be effective."
Toward the end of his role as sheriff, Kolender began slipping mentally, his friends said. He cut back his hours and started using a driver in 2007, but refused to step down, even after rumors surfaced that he might be suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia. He confronted the rumors for a front-page story that ran in The San Diego Union-Tribune in October 2007.
He had planned to retire when his term expired in 2011, but he stepped down two years early after acknowledging his diagnosis of Alzheimer's, said his longtime friend Tom Giaquinto. "He did the right thing by retiring when he did," said Giaquinto, a retired San Diego police lieutenant and state parole board commissioner "He brought an awful lot of compassion to all his positions. He was a really good guy."
Sheriff Bill Gore said Kolender was an early champion of jail rehabilitation programs, including re-entry initiatives and educational courses.

"He would always say that we had a moral obligation to (inmates,) besides just keeping them in a clean and safe place, to get
them skills so they can reintegrate into our communities and be productive members of society - not just recycle back through the jail system," Gore said.
Kolender was also recognized for his ability to forge partnerships - with leaders throughout San Diego County's communities and among other law enforcement groups.
Gore, who met Kolender when he was a teen, said he will be remembered most for his personal touch. Whenever a deputy was injured, Kolender went to the deputy’s bedside. If a deputy died in the line of duty, Kolender personally delivered the news to family. Gore said Kolender's ability to connect with and care for others was the underlying key to his success.
"He really cared. You can't fake that," Gore said. "... He spoke to others with attention and respect. He was a great listener. After talking with Bill, you felt he was your new best friend."
Kolender was born May 23, 1935, in Chicago and raised in San Diego. His father worked as a jeweler. His parents didn’t want a cop as a son, but they never imagined it would lead to such a charmed life.

Kolender’s father told him he should choose a more respectable profession, but Kolender thought the work was interesting and he needed the money. His parents couldn’t afford his college tuition.
A part of him always identified with the working class.
“We lived in Hanukkah Heights,” Kolender said in 2007 while referring to the Del Cerro neighborhood where he and his second wife, Lois, lived before moving to Granite Hills. “Back then, they wouldn’t let Jews or people of color live in La Jolla.”
He met Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan and he occasionally dined with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and then-wife Maria Shriver.
He enjoyed talking about the moments that shaped him. He was affable and quick with a joke, even when time started catching up with him.
Kolender’s political clout transcended expectations.
Former San Diego police chief and former mayor Jerry Sanders, now CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Kolender was a consummate politician.
“He was probably the best politician in San Diego outside of Pete Wilson,” and knew everybody in the community, Sanders said. “He just was excellent with working with the mayor, with the City Council, with the school district -- with everybody.”
Kolender considered running for mayor in a 1983 special election and again in 1986. After bowing out the second time, he said: “I’m a cop, not a politician.”

Retiring county Sheriff Bill Kolender removed plaques and mementos from his office in July 2009, ending his 15-year tenure atop the Sheriff's Department, and a 50-year law enforcement career.

Biography
William Barnett Kolender
Born: May 23, 1935 in Chicago
Family: Married to Lois, his second wife, for 27 years. Had four grown children: Dennis Kolender, Michael Kolender, Randie Hock and Jodi Karas (step daughter) and five grandchildren.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in public administration, 1964, San Diego State University
Career

1956-1988: San Diego Police Department (served as chief from 1975-1988)

1988-1991: Assistant to publisher San Diego Union-Tribune

1991-1994: Director of the California Youth Authority (Governor appointment)

1995-2009: 28th sheriff of San Diego County

Appointments and boards
Past president of California State Sheriffs Association, California Board of Corrections, San Diego Judicial Selection Advisory Committee.
Honors
Equal Opportunity Award in 1981 from Urban League, Outstanding Alumnus in 1985 from San Diego State University, Neil Morgan Award by LEAD San Diego for exemplary leadership in 1999, Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 from San Diego Police Historical Association.
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune research
He enjoyed a lot of firsts with the San Diego Police Department. He was promoted to sergeant at 26, the youngest officer to hold the rank at that time. In 1965, he was promoted to lieutenant. Three years later, at 33, he became the youngest captain in department history. In 1971, he was promoted to inspector, and he was named public information officer a year later. In 1973, he became the city’s youngest-ever assistant chief. Two years later, at 39, he became the youngest deputy police chief.
By the time he became chief, his daughter was in high school. It was hard to find other kids to relate to her at times, she remembered, with her father being on the news every evening.
“Whatever my friends did, they hid from me,” Kolender-Hock, of Del Mar, laughed.
Despite the pressures of the job, her father always kept his sense of humor, she said.
“He was really good at scaring the boyfriends that would come over. ... I’ll always miss the way he could tell a joke, unlike no other.”
She remembered when she was a little girl, 11 or 12, and her father and his best friend decided to go off-roading up Cowles Mountain in a Volkswagen Beetle. "I was crying, I was so scared, and they were just laughing," she recalled. He was chief during the Brenda Spencer school shooting in 1979 and during the San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre in 1984.
Perhaps his greatest achievement as a police officer was his role in establishing and cementing community-oriented policing. He was the first officer in charge of San Diego’s community relations division, which was created in 1967 to connect beat cops with taxpayers, especially minority and low-income residents. The department still uses community relations officers - now called community resource officers - across the city.

"He was a pioneer in changing how law enforcement interacted with the community and providing his deputies and officers the tools they needed to be professional organizations," said San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. Like most big-city chiefs in the 1970s and 1980s, Kolender dealt with racial strife. He established a civilian police review panel in response to complaints of racism within the department, but was criticized for demanding final say over who was appointed to the panel. During the Sagon Penn trials in the mid-1980s, Kolender angered the black community for defending his officers. Penn killed one police officer and wounded another, but was acquitted of the most serious charges after saying he was beaten by officers and taunted with racial epithets. At the conclusion of the second trial, Superior Court Judge J. Morgan Lester publicly criticized the San Diego Police Department, which prompted a state attorney general’s investigation. The department was cleared of any wrongdoing.
In 1986, Kolender received a written reprimand from the city manager as a result of an investigation that found Kolender fixed traffic tickets for friends and used a police officer to run personal errands. Kolender admitted fixing several tickets and publicly apologized. “I am wrong and I am sorry,” he said at the time. Kolender resigned as police chief about a year before a county grand jury issued a scathing report that alleged widespread police misconduct under his command. The report included accusations of corruption and tampering with evidence and suggested officers may have removed names from the Rolodex of Karen Wilkening — the “Rolodex Madam” — who ran a local call girl service. In June 1991, a new grand jury reversed direction and said there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations. It found no evidence linking Kolender with Wilkening. When he first ran for sheriff, Kolender received 62 percent of the vote to defeat incumbent Jim Roache in 1994. Four years later, he ran unopposed. In 2002, Kolender received 75 percent of the vote to 25 percent for sheriff’s Sgt. Bruce Ruff. In 2006, Kolender and Ruff squared off again and Kolender cruised to another victory with 70 percent of the vote. He is credited with modernizing the sheriff department. There was controversy, but very little compared to his time as police chief. He received the San Diego County Taxpayers Association’s “Golden Fleece Award” because of overtime expenses of $19 million in 1999 — when his overtime budget was $13 million. The department exceeded its overtime budget every year under Kolender. In 1996 and 1997, overtime almost doubled what was budgeted. He ushered in a new sheriff communications system, new substations in Poway, San Marcos and Fallbrook, and two firefighting helicopters. He also opened a new downtown jail and a regional crime lab. In October 2007, he said: “I love what I do. I’m still motivated. It’s a pleasure to come to work.” San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said Kolender's "influence still resonates decades later and he will be dearly missed.” Kolender is survived by wife Lois, daughter Randie Kolender-Hock, sons Michael and Dennis Kolender, stepdaughter Jodi Karas, and grandchildren Nathan, Danielle, Taylor, Kendall and Brooklyn. A public memorial service is being planned and information about it will be released as it becomes available.


This story was written in advance in 2008 by former U-T staff writer Tony Manolatos, now a communications consultant; and U-T researcher Michelle Gilchrist and was updated Tuesday by staff writers Karen Kucher, Pauline Repard, Lyndsay Winkley and Kristina Davis.

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