Paul Miyamoto is an American sheriff. He is the 37th sheriff of San Francisco, the first East Asian American sheriff in California history and the second from the department to be elected into office.

Early life

Miyamoto is a native of San Francisco and a graduate of Lowell High School. His father was Philip Miyamoto, an

appellate judge A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

for the state of California of Japanese descent. His mother is of Chinese descent. Miyamoto graduated from

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

in 1989. Miyamoto has a law degree and has interned for the

San Francisco District Attorney's Office The San Francisco District Attorney's Office is the legal agency charged with prosecuting crimes in the City and County of San Francisco, California. The current district attorney is Brooke Jenkins. Occupants of this office have gone on to highe ...

San Francisco Sheriff's Department

Miyamoto joined the

San Francisco Sheriff's Department The San Francisco Sheriff's Office (SFSO), officially the City and County of San Francisco Sheriff's Office, is the sheriff's office for the City and County of San Francisco. The current sheriff is Paul Miyamoto. The department has 850 deputized ...

in 1996.

Sheriff

He first ran for sheriff in 2011, placing second against

Ross Mirkarimi Rostam Mirkarimi (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician and the former sheriff of San Francisco. Prior to being sheriff, he served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where he represented District 5. Mirkarimi is a co-founder o ...

. Mirkarimi promoted him from Captain to Assistant Sheriff in February 2012. Miyamoto was Chief Deputy when he ran for sheriff to succeed

Vicki Hennessy Vicki Hennessy was the Sheriff of San Francisco and the city's first female sheriff. She was appointed interim sheriff by Mayor Ed Lee (politician), Ed Lee pending an ethics investigation of the elected sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi, who was charged ...

in 2019. He ran unopposed after his opponent Ron Terry dropped out of the race. He was sworn in on January 8, 2020, as the city's 37th sheriff. In March 2020, at the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic in San Francisco Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, Miyamoto suspended county jail visits and programs to preemptively stop the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Non-contact visits with legal counsel were permitted.

Personal life

Miyamoto's family was interned during WWII at

Heart Mountain Relocation Center The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, named after nearby Heart Mountain and located midway between the northwest Wyoming towns of Cody and Powell, was one of ten concentration camps used for the internment of Japanese Americans evicted d ...

. His grand-uncles served in

442nd Infantry Regiment The 442nd Infantry Regiment ( ja, 第442歩兵連隊) was an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment is best known as the most decorated in U.S. military history and as a fighting unit composed almost entirely of second-gene ...

. He is married with five children. Miyamoto said that films like ''The Choirboys'' (1977) and ''

End of Watch ''End of Watch'' is a 2012 American action thriller film written and directed by David Ayer. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala, two Los Angeles Police Department officers who work in South Central Los An ...

'' (2012) and television show ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...

'' (1981–1987) depict an accurate portrayal of law enforcement.

References

External links

* ''San Francisco Chronicle'
profile about Miyamoto's family during WWII Japanese internment
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miyamoto, Paul California sheriffs Living people Lowell High School (San Francisco) alumni University of California, Davis alumni American politicians of Chinese descent American politicians of Japanese descent Year of birth missing (living people)