Praise Rolls in
KEARNY MESA - It's the end of an era for law enforcement in San Diego. Sheriff Bill Kolender is retiring after serving 14 years as the Sheriff of San Diego County. Prior to that, Kolender was the Chief of the San Diego Police Department for 13 years.
In an interview with San Diego 6 News, Kolender says, "I'm leaving because of my wife's health. I'm gonna be there to do the things that she's been doing that I should be helping her with."
And with that, Sheriff Bill Kolender leaves his work family so he can spend more time with his wife, children and grandchildren. He takes with him a half century of law enforcement memories, of the time spent with friends and colleagues -- and Hollywood actors, one of whom became a governor.
He looks back at the great challenges he faced as Chief of Police. In 1978, he was there when the PSA jet crashed in North Park. "When the cops came it just overwhelmed them. I'll never forget it. We lost 10 officers who took disability retirements -- left the department -- probably negative effect on their entire life."
Because of the emotional trauma on officers Kolender brought a psychologist into the department.
In 1984, James Huberty walked into a McDonald's in San Ysidro and killed 22 people, including 5 children. Kolender remembered that difficult day, "The cops could not handle it -- the scene. They were just overwhelmed."
Mayor Jerry Sanders, then the commander of the San Diego Swat team, worked with Kolender at the scene.
"I was the chief and he's the one who gave the green light to kill the killer."
As Sheriff, his most significant challenges came with the wildfires of 2003 and 2007. Working alongside Governor Schwarzenegger and elected officials, Kolender made fixing the communication problems faced in 2003 a priority before the fires struck again in 2007.
"We we're able to communicate at all levels with fire and police and we had the reverse 9-1-1 and was a worse fire," said Kolender. "Less people died and less homes were burned in 2007 than 2003."
As for a replacement, Undersheriff Bill Gore will assume the duties in July when Kolender steps down. And then in 2010, the race for the office goes to the voters. With former Sheriff's Lieutenant Jim Duffy and former San Diego Police Chief David Bejarano enter the fray for the position.
