Among the myriad of elections San Francisco voters were presented with earlier this month, there was one that flew under the radar of many: the sheriff.
The election was a landslide victory for the incumbent Sheriff Paul Miyamoto. According to ABC News, Miyamoto received a whopping 81 percent of the total vote, and his opponent Michael Juan,–a Riordan alumnus–only received 19 percent.
Also according to ABC News, despite the Sheriff election having the lowest turnout for any city-wide office, Miyamoto still received the highest amount of votes for a single candidate overall at 204,563.
“[My goals] in terms of continuing on my second term, is continuing on with the good work that we’ve been doing,” Sheriff Miyamoto told The Crusader.
Some citizens are skeptical, though. Arman Mander ’25 said, “while I’m glad that Miyamoto was reelected and he maintains his goals I think he needs to rethink his policies and assist in SF getting tougher on crime and punishment.”
Despite his popularity, though, he faced many challenges in his first term as Sheriff, including a training session involving expired tear gas near an elementary school that ended up harming children.
Miyamoto looks to learn from his mistakes, take responsibility for his past missteps, and address key issues in his department.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “He’s worked to increase safety training with deputies to address violence in the jails.”
Despite his loss, Juan will continue to support the Sheriff’s department anyway he can.
“Currently I work as a police officer for UC San Francisco Police Department. I plan to continue working on patrol and eventually get into investigations or promote,” he said.
Miyamoto’s first term began in the middle of the COVID pandemic, which he believes hindered his operations for the first two years he donned the badge.
“So we hit a big pause button for about two years before we could even get back on track.”
Sheriff Miyamoto hopes to move San Francisco forward and build a better future for the city and its people.
“We want to stay focused on public safety… We’re going to continue to make sure our footprint in the community is supported and stronger than it has been, so that we can keep people safe, and make sure people feel safe.”
