Description:
The San Diego Police Department dates to 1889, when out-of-control crime forced the end of the highly ineffective city marshal's office. With violence on every corner and Tombstone's venerable Wyatt Earp running the marshals' gambling interests, change was desperately needed. But the first days of the SDPD weren't easy. Within two years of its formation, the city's economy tanked, 36,000 of the town's 40,000 citizens left, and the department's newly appointed chief refused to take the job. Still, San Diego
eventually developed into one of the nation's largest cities and most popular tourist destination--a multifaceted metropolis perched between the extremes of Los Angeles and Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and the desert. Today more than 2,000 highly trained sworn SDPD officers, 700 support staff, and more than 1,000 volunteers form one of the world's most innovative and internationally recognized police forces.
Brief description: Author Steve Willard is a 20-year member of the San Diego Police Department. A writer for law enforcement periodicals, Willard also serves as the vice president of the San Diego Police Historical Association, which supplied the vintage photos for this visual history. These images have captured San Diego's finest in the heat of intense action and the fulfillment of the everyday duties that illustrate what it truly means to protect and serve.