Highlights of Duffy’s County Career

During his nearly 20-year tenure as San Diego County sheriff, John F. Duffy helped modernize his department and gained national recognition as a law enforcement officer. But his years of service were also marked by jarring accusations of mismanagement and abuse of public power.

* Jan. 1, 1971: John F. Duffy, who had quickly ascended through the ranks after becoming a deputy sheriff in 1953, takes office as San Diego County sheriff after defeating Chief Deputy Sheriff Warren Kanagy in an election.

* November, 1974: Duffy runs unopposed and wins second term as sheriff.

* 1975: The County Board of Supervisors tries to wrest control of jails from Duffy and create a new position to oversee corrections facilities. But Duffy threatens to force a referendum on the issue, prompting the supervisors to back down and put the jails back under his wing.

* July 7, 1976: The San Diego County Grand Jury finds a “whole spectrum” of organized crime in the county, raises questions about the ability of the Sheriff’s Department to combat it and criticizes Duffy’s relationship with unnamed persons alleged to have ties with organized crime. Specifically, questions are directed at political campaign contributions Duffy received in 1970 from principals of La Costa, a country club-residential development in Carlsbad.

* October, 1978: Duffy endures a major morale crisis in his department. Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 6, Duffy loses 105 of his 761 classified sworn personnel. Sickouts and other labor crises lead to a grand jury investigation and launch a protracted contract dispute.

* November, 1978: Duffy defeats five opponents in the June primary without campaigning and easily wins his third term.

* July 6, 1979: U.S. District Judge Edward J. Schwartz orders Duffy to promote minorities and women to the rank of sergeant to “eradicate the present effects of past discrimination.” Duffy insists that affirmative action constitutes reverse discrimination.

July 1, 1981: Although claiming he opposes a walkout, Duffy infuriates county supervisors by saying he supports the pay increases his deputies seek to win. The supervisors accuse Duffy of encouraging the strike--the first ever by the county’s deputies. Nearly 800 deputies abandon their jobs for eight days.

* November, 1982: Duffy trounces two challengers, winning his fourth term.

* Nov. 28, 1983: Duffy resigns from President Ronald Reagan’s Organized Crime Commission on the eve of its first public meeting, saying he wants the panel to be free of controversy stemming from allegations that he has links to organized crime. The Justice Department, however, states it had found nothing to question Duffy’s qualifications to serve on the panel with “distinction and integrity.”

* March 14, 1986: In a case of statewide significance, Superior Court Judge Douglas Woodworth rules that Duffy engaged in illegal political activity in 1985 when he used his office and deputies to distribute materials urging California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird to resign. In February, 1985, Duffy distributed 18,000 anti-Bird post cards supplied by Crime Victims for Court Reform, one of the groups leading the fight against the chief justice’s retention in the November general election.

* November, 1986: Duffy wins his fifth term.

* May 24, 1988: In a two-hour press conference, Duffy denies mounting accusations that jail inmates are being beaten by his deputies.

* March 21, 1989: The San Diego County Grand Jury releases a report lambasting the Sheriff’s Department for its operation of the six county jails. The panel finds that inmates were frequently assaulted by deputies, that internal cover-ups were conducted to conceal those activities and that Duffy and his top aides failed to assert adequate leadership to investigate the allegations and stop the abuse. The report specifically cited a “Rambo Squad” of deputies that allegedly roamed the El Cajon jail, routinely assaulting and harassing inmates.

* July 23, 1989: A Times report reveals that Duffy took 16 trips during the first half of the year, frequently traveling on personal business, and was away from the county for nearly a third of the workdays during that period. When questioned about his trips to destinations such as Washington, Hawaii and the Gulf Coast of Florida, Duffy responded: “If I did nothing but be the sheriff of San Diego County, I’d be bored to death.”

* October, 1989: Questions are raised about Duffy’s personal finances as reports surface stating that he had worked for two companies on law enforcement-related projects but never publicly reported income from such assignments on state economic disclosure forms required of elected officials.

* Nov. 30, 1989: Duffy seeks a court order to prevent The Times from publishing information about security measures at his home. Superior Court Judge Jeffrey T. Miller at first bars The Times from printing such stories, but later lifts his order. Duffy assails the judge and says the decision further threatens his family.

* Dec. 11, 1989: Accusing the media of placing his family in danger, Duffy announces that he will not seek an unprecedented sixth term.