William J. Quinn

{{Other people|William Quinn}}

{{Sources exist|date=April 2024}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2017}}

{{Infobox police officer

| name = William J. Quinn

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1883|04|23|df=y}}

| birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1963|10|10|1883|04|23|df=y}}

| death_place = Livermore Sanitorium, Livermore, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, California, U.S.

| rest_coord = {{coord|37.671155|-122.445191|display=it|format=dms}}

| education = Lincoln Grammar School, Sacred Heart College, Saint Ignatius College

| alma_mater = Saint Ignatius College (now the University of San Francisco)

| known_for = Chief of Police of San Francisco

| notable_works = Modernization of the SFPD, establishment of the juvenile bureau, radios in police cars

| service = San Francisco Police Department (SFPD)

| allegiance = United States

| department = San Francisco Police Department

| status = Deceased

}}

William J. Quinn (April 23, 1883 – October 10, 1963) was a San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) chief.{{Cite journal |last=Larrowe |first=Charles P. |date=September 1970 |title=The great maritime strike of '34 |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00236567008584137 |journal=Labor History |language=en |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=403–451 |doi=10.1080/00236567008584137 |issn=0023-656X}}{{Cite book |last=Hinckle |first=Warren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mqLPAAAAIAAJ&q=William+J.+Quinn+sfpd |title=The Big Strike: A Pictorial History of the 1934 San Francisco General Strike |date=1985 |publisher=Silver Dollar Books |isbn=978-0-933839-00-7 |language=en}} A native of San Francisco, California, he attended Lincoln Grammar School, Sacred Heart College and studied law at Saint Ignatius College (now the University of San Francisco), graduating in 1925. He walked his first police beat in 1906.

He served as chief of police in San Francisco from January 1, 1929, until February 15, 1940. Quinn presided over the modernization of the SFPD and is credited with establishing the first juvenile bureau and putting radios in police cars. He was chief during the Jessie Scott Hughes murder trial of Frank Egan and the 1934 San Francisco General Strike on the waterfront where he took a rock to the head, and during the period of the investigations by Edwin Atherton who published the Atherton Report on police graft and corruption.{{Cite book |last1=Denny |first1=Christopher D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XpKUDwAAQBAJ&dq=William+J.+Quinn+sfpd&pg=PT104 |title=Empowering the People of God: Catholic Action before and after Vatican II |last2=Connolly |first2=Mary Beth Fraser |date=2013-11-01 |publisher=Fordham Univ Press |isbn=978-0-8232-5401-9 |language=en}}

Quinn died on October 10, 1963, at the Livermore Sanitorium. He was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California.