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Bill Kolender became the 28th Sheriff of San Diego
County on January 2, 1995, and he has been reelected three times.
His fourth term will begin in January 2007 and continue until January 2011. He currently provides
leadership to 4,000 employees, including sworn and civilian support
personnel, and he oversees a budget of approximately $524 million.
The Sheriff is responsible for three main services-–law enforcement,
detentions, and courts. The Sheriff’s Department provides law
enforcement to the unincorporated areas of the County, as well as to
nine contract cities. There are seven detention facilities operated
by the Sheriff and eleven separate court facilities.
Kolender has been a
career law enforcement professional, serving as Sheriff of the
County of San Diego since 1995 and for 13 years as the Chief of the
San Diego Police Department. He was appointed Chief at the age of
40—one of the youngest big city police chiefs in the nation—and
retired in 1988.
Prior to his election to the Office of Sheriff, Kolender
served as the Director of the California Youth Authority (CYA), an
appointment made by Governor Pete Wilson on September 23, 1991. The
California Youth Authority is the largest youth correctional agency
in the nation. Prior to his appointment as Director of the Youth
Authority, Kolender served as Assistant to the Publisher of the
Union-Tribune Publishing Company, which publishes the San Diego
Union-Tribune in California’s second largest city.
Sheriff Kolender’s state-wide activities include: appointee
of the Governor to the California Mental Health Services Oversight
and Accountability Commission and San Diego Judicial Selection
Advisory Committee. He represents California on the Western States
Information Network (WSIN) Board of Directors, along with the State
Attorney General. He is the immediate past
President of the California State Sheriffs’ Association (CSSA), a
lifetime member of CSSA
and serves as a
member of the National Executive Institute.
Sheriff Kolender is an active member of or on the Board of
Directors of several community-based, law enforcement and charitable
organizations, such as the San Diego County Police Chiefs’ and
Sheriff’s Association and Training & Education for Retarded
Individuals (TERI).
Over the course of his career, Kolender served as appointee
of the Governor on the California Board of Corrections, two terms
for the Governor as a Commissioner on the State of California’s
Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), serving
as Chair for the year 2001-02; board member of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) past president of the Major
City Police Chiefs’ Association; Chairman of the Task Force that
integrated the San Diego City Schools; past president of the San
Diego Police Officers’ Association; and the California Council on
Criminal Justice (CCCJ), among others. He also served for eight
years on the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and as
their president.
Kolender has received many honors over the years, including:
The 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the San Diego
Police Historical Association; the 2004 Courageous Leadership Award
by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce; the prestigious John
M. Penrith Award for “Excellence in Law Enforcement Administration,”
given by the alumni and foundation of the National Executive
Institute in June 1999; the Neil Morgan Award by LEAD San Diego in
May 1999 for exemplary leadership; “Outstanding Alumnus” from San
Diego State University in 1985; the Urban League’s “Equal
Opportunity Award” in 1981; the Golden Man and Boy Award in 1984;
and the “Diogenes Award for Truth and Honesty in Government” from
the San Diego Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America in
1978.
Kolender, a native of Chicago, earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Urban Affairs and Public Administration from San Diego
State University in 1964. He and his wife, Lois, have four
children: Michael, Jodi, Randie and Dennis.
E-Mail Sheriff Kolender
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