CHIEF JOSEPH V. DORAN

10/09/1927 - 04/08/1929

SDPD 01/10/1916 - 09/25/1945

Joe Doran was hired with the department on January 10, 1916, but within a year he left to serve in World War I. 

He returned in 1919 and was made an investigator shortly thereafter.  Doran quickly proved himself very capable and was promoted to detective sergeant two years later.

As chief, Doran established an all night detective bureau and assigned investigators to work only on specific crimes such as robbery, homicide etc. He also had detectives pair up when working cases.

Prior, detectives had always worked cases alone. Doran also established a policy of fingerprinting all police applicants and doing a background investigation on them; a practice that would reveal some applicants were convicted criminals. 

Doran also made it his crusade to fire the policewomen.

As chief, Doran was witness to one of the greatest feats of all time. He and Mayor Clark were on hand to see Charles Lindberg take off from San Diego in the Spirit of St. Louis as he headed for New York to begin what would be the world’s first transatlantic flight.

When his two-year term of office expired in 1929 the council refused to re-appoint him. No official reason was given and Doran quietly reverted back to the rank of detective sergeant.

Doran would be promoted twice before he retired as a captain on September 24, 1945. He died May 14, 1950.