‘Cowboy Sheriff’ Tidwell Ends 38 Years as Lawman

Retiring San Bernardino County Sheriff Floyd Tidwell turned in his badge Monday, concluding a 38-year law enforcement career to spend more time with his grandchildren and competing on the amateur rodeo circuit.

Tidwell, dubbed the last of the cowboy sheriffs by local leaders, helped shepherd the department from a small force of deputies roaming Southern California’s outback to a modern law enforcement agency grappling with gangs and other urban ills.

Undersheriff Dick Williams, elected to succeed Tidwell in June, took the reins from his former boss during a swearing-in ceremony. As San Bernardino County’s top law enforcement official, Williams will supervise 1,700 employees--the state’s seventh largest police force--and manage an annual budget expected to soon top $110 million.

“I’ve made a number of good decisions in my lifetime . . . and one of them was to retire while I’m still in control of my faculties,” Tidwell, 60, told a large crowd gathered for the leadership change.

Tidwell, who favors turquoise jewelry and chewing tobacco and has rarely been seen out of his cowboy boots, leaves an impressive legacy that was tinged by controversy in recent years.

A career Sheriff’s Department employee, he began his life in uniform as a deputy in the substation in the Big Bear Lake area, where he was raised the son of a cattle rancher. He quickly moved through the ranks, holding positions ranging from commander of the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center--a jail he helped design--to inspector in charge of desert operations.

In 1982, he was elected county sheriff. Under him, the department grew and modernized dramatically, with the addition of an aviation division, a gang task force and a sophisticated radio system among the milestones.

Perhaps the bleakest moment for Tidwell came courtesy of the so-called “Victorville Five” case, in which five Latino men won $745,000 in federal court a year ago after claiming that they were beaten by San Bernardino deputies.

Despite the introduction in court of a videotape that appeared to show uniformed deputies using fists and batons on men who seemed to offer little resistance, Tidwell stood by his officers, insisting that they used the “proper” level of force. His defense prompted accusations that the sheriff condoned brutality and misconduct by his employees, particularly against minorities.

But once-angry Latino activists now praise Tidwell for taking steps to improve relations between the department and minority communities after the episode.

“I believe his consciousness was raised by the Victorville Five incident,” said Armando Navarro, executive director of the Institute for Social Justice in San Bernardino, a Latino rights group. “He went on to develop cultural awareness programs (for deputies) and do other things that show he was sensitized to what we’d been saying.”

Williams, 50, is also a career cop, but is expected to bring a business executive’s style to the sheriff’s job. Instead of boots and silver belt buckles, Williams wears pin stripes and boasts a master’s degree in public administration.

Williams said he plans to improve deputy training, increase commitment to disaster preparedness and expand emphasis on drug and gang awareness programs in the schools and community.