Pubdate: Sun, 21 Sep 2014
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Victoria Colliver
Page: C7

JOSEPH D. MCNAMARA - INNOVATIVE POLICE CHIEF

Joseph D. McNamara, a former San Jose police chief who gained 
national attention for his progressive views on community policing, 
drugs and gun control, died in his sleep early Friday at his Monterey 
home of pancreatic cancer. He was 79.

Mr. McNamara, who started his career as a Harlem beat cop in New York 
City and earned a doctorate from Harvard University, served as San 
Jose's police chief from 1976 until retiring in 1991. He worked as a 
research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution from 1991 until his 
death, and wrote five novels dubbed cop noir.

Credited with reforms

His police and city colleagues credited Mr. McNamara with bringing 
expansion, modernization and other reforms to the San Jose Police 
Department at a time when such changes weren't popular and tensions 
between the police and residents, Latinos in particular, ran high.

"It was America in the '70s, and the San Jose Police Department, like 
many other police departments, really had not changed much from the 
'30s and '40s," said his friend, Tom McEnery, who served as mayor of 
San Jose through eight of Mr. McNamara's 15 years as police chief. 
"When he came here he really had to radically change the entire 
culture of the department."

Mr. McNamara diversified the department by hiring more women and 
minorities. He made San Jose one of the first departments to install 
computers in patrol cars and use crime data to better allocate 
resources. "He really tried to move the department forward," said Rob 
Davis, a former San Jose police chief who started his career with Mr. 
McNamara at the helm. "I estimate we were about 20 years ahead of our time."

Davis, chief from 2004 to 2010, said Mr. McNamara brought high 
standards and a new level of professionalism to policing that wasn't 
always popular with the old guard. "Joe was about preaching 
accountability and the fact you had to answer to the community," he 
said. "It can't be an 'us-against-them' attitude. It had to be a 'we.' "

The son of a cop, Mr. McNamara was raised in New York and earned his 
bachelor's degree while working as a police officer at night.

Critic of drug policy

He was a criminal justice fellow at Harvard Law School and earned his 
Harvard doctorate in public administration before returning to the 
New York Police Department as deputy inspector in charge of crime 
analysis. Before coming to San Jose, he served as Kansas City's police chief.

Recurring heart disease forced him to leave his job as chief at age 
57, but retirement wasn't in his nature. He went to work at the 
Hoover Institution, where he continued his controversial stances as a 
law enforcement advocate of gun control and a sharp critic of the war on drugs.

"He was the police chief who became the most deeply involved in the 
drug policy reform movement," said Ethan Nadelmann, founder and 
executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, who had worked with 
Mr. McNamara on issues for the past 25 years. "He was convinced the 
drug war was a total disaster and he needed to speak out about that."

In a 2010 opinion piece in The Chronicle, Mr. McNamara urged voters 
to support the effort to legalize marijuana in California. His stance 
put him at odds with the California Police Chiefs Association, a 
position he was probably used to.

"Personally, I have never even smoked a cigarette, let alone taken a 
hit from a bong," Mr. McNamara wrote, "and while I have great respect 
for the police chiefs, I wouldn't want to live in a country where it 
is a crime to behave contrary to the way cops think we should."

In addition to his numerous writings on drug policy, Mr. McNamara 
penned five detective novels and a crime prevention manual.

He is survived by his wife, Laurie, and three adult children from a 
previous marriage. No information about services was immediately available.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom