Jerry Sanders

Gerald Robert "Jerry" Sanders (born July 14, 1950) is a former American politician and law enforcement officer from San Diego, California. He served as the 34th mayor of San Diego and was Chief of Police. As of December 2012, he is the president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. Personal life Sanders was born 1950 in San Pedro in Los Angeles, California. His alma maters are San Diego Miramar College, San Diego State University, and National University. He was also a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity while at San Diego State. Sanders lives in the Kensington neighborhood of San Diego with his wife Rana Sampson. He has two daughters, Lisa and Jamie. His brother, Tom Sanders, was an Oscar nominated production designer. San Diego Police During his senior year at San Diego State University, Jerry Sanders became a police officer with the San Diego Police Department. He served in the police department from 1973 until 1999, and served as Chief of Police from 1993 until 1999. As chief of police, Sanders and the department's employees gained national recognition for work with community policing and achieving a 40% decrease in crime, including a 67% drop in murders during his six-year term as chief. Sanders also re-organized the department, making it more responsive to the community, reaching out to neighborhoods, and utilizing more than 1,000 volunteers to address San Diego's public safety needs. Prior to his assignments as division commander, police captain, Sanders, then police lieutenant, was the police academy commander at the San Diego Criminal Justice Training Center - Police Academy at Miramar College. He was commander of the San Diego SWAT team during the 1984 San Ysidro McDonald's massacre, and his management of the tragedy, which resulted in twenty-one deaths, earned him criticism from the city's Mexican-American community. As a result, the newspaper La Prensa San Diego called Sanders "unfit to be mayor."