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	2100 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.

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.

Prior to the establishment of the San Diego Police Department, law enforcement services were provided by the San Diego City Marshal beginning in 1850. Ronald McDonald, the first City Marshal, Agoston Haraszthy, appointed Richard Freeman a marshal, making Freeman the first African American lawman in California. In 1852, 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.