Former SL Police Chief & Assistant Sheriff Robert J.P. Maginnis Dies

SAN LEANDRO, CA — The death of longtime San Leandro Police Chief Robert J.P. Maginnis, who came out of retirement to serve as assistant sheriff for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, was announced Thursday by city officials and law enforcement agencies.

"I am grief-stricken by the sudden loss of our sage, leader and embodiment of professionalism, retired San Leandro Police Chief Bob Maginnis," San Leandro Police Chief Abdul Pridgen said. "Chief Maginnis was loved and respected by all."

He was "a fantastic law enforcement leader and San Leandro community member," the Alameda County Sheriff's Office said. "Chief Maginnis will be greatly missed."

Maginnis, a 32-year member of the San Leandro department, was honored March 23 as the city named its police facility the Robert J.P. Maginnis Police Administration Building, after the officer, who began his career in 1967 as a reserve officer with the San Leandro PD after three years in the U.S. Army.

"His life has passed on, but his memory has permanently cemented in the lives he touched throughout his long tenure with the San Leandro Police Department," city officials said.

Maginnis was active in the community, with involvement in the Rotary Club of San Leandro, San Leandro Breakfast Club, Girls Inc. of Alameda County , where he was a past board president, and also as a criminal justice instructor at San Leandro Unified School District, Chabot College and Diablo Valley College.

It was while teaching at San Leandro High, that the former chief realized the community's makeup was changing and began the department's adoption of community policing, actively recruiting and hiring those that represened San Leandro's diversity, the city said.

"Chief Maginnis advocated for 'force-multiplying' technologies like computers and software to assist employees in doing their jobs long before it was commonplace," officials said.

In 1986, he graduated from FBI National Academy-Quantico, became San Leandro police chief and was recruited in 1988 to serve on a blue-ribbon committee addressing the future of DNA and its impact on law in California and nationwide.

Maginnis' 1999 retirement from the San Leandro police department was short-lived as he was immediately appointed assistant sheriff for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, the city said.

Maginnis' other accomplishments and community activities include:

• Helping shape the Regional Training Center, by expanding the scope of training and partnering with the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District:

• As a member of the NAACP and friend of Ms. Freddye Davis, President of the Hayward South Alameda County NAACP;

• Serving on the San Leandro Employee Credit Union board of directors;

• Serving on the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce Board;

• Volunteering to ensure local school bonds passed;

• And serving as executive director of the Alameda County Chiefs of Police and Sheriff's Association.

San Leandro Mayor Pauline Russo-Cutter ordered city flags to be flown at half-staff in Maginnis' honor.

"Today, we celebrate Chief Maginnis' life and legacy to the San Leandro community and his meaningful actions in Alameda County, the Bay Area and nationwide," the city said.

Maginnis is survived by his wife, Arleen, daughter Anne Fox, son John Maginnis, daughter-in-law Jenny Maginnis and four grandchildren, Joe and Michael Fox and Jackie and Max Maginnis.