Michael Hennessey

Michael Hennessey
Sheriff of the City and County of San Francisco
In office
1980–2012
Preceded byEugene A. Brown
Succeeded byRoss Mirkarimi
Personal details
Bornc. 1948 (age 75–76)
Alma materSaint John's University (Minnesota),
University of San Francisco School of Law

Michael Hennessey (born c. 1948) is an American attorney and former Sheriff of San Francisco. Hennessey was elected in a run-off election in December 1979 and served until 2012, becoming the longest serving Sheriff in the history of San Francisco and was the longest tenured Sheriff in the State of California.

By the end of his final term (January 2012), he had served as San Francisco's Sheriff for 32 years and had received more than one million votes as Sheriff.[1][2] No other San Francisco Sheriff has served for more than sixteen years.[3]

On February 18, 2011, he announced he would not run for a ninth term of office.[4]

His tenure was notable for the development of prisoner education and rehabilitation programs, by construction of three major jail facilities and by expansion of powers of the Office of Sheriff.

  1. ^ "Sheriff Michael Hennessey: history-maker on future". SFGate. November 28, 2011.
  2. ^ "SHERIFF: Hennessey looking to extend his S.F.-record tenure". SFGate. November 7, 2007.
  3. ^ SFGOV Archived 2010-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Sheriff Michael Hennessey won't run for re-election". SFGate City Insider. February 18, 2011.