Background
Gascón, George was born in 1954.
Gascón, George was born in 1954.
Bachelor in History, California State University, Long Beach, 1977. Juris Doctor, Western State University, 1987.
Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed him to that post on January 9, 2011, to succeed Kamala Harris, who had been elected California Attorney General in November 2010. In November 2011, Gascón was elected as District Attorney of San Francisco after winning more than 62% of the vote in the third round of San Francisco"s instant-runoff voting election. He was sworn in on January 5, 2012 as San Francisco"s twelfth elected District Attorney,
Born in Havana, Cuba, Gascón and his family immigrated to the United States in 1967 and settled in Bell, California, a suburb of Los Los Angeles
After dropping out of Bell High School, Gascón served in the United States Army from 1972 to 1975, receiving an honorable discharge as a sergeant (East-5), and earned his high school diploma.
In 1978, Gascón joined the Los Angeles Police Department. He then became a sales manager at a Ford Motor Company dealership and pursued higher education.
He received a bachelor"s degree in history from California State University, Long Beach and a Juris Doctor from Western State University College of Law. In 1987, he became a full-time police officer again and rose to the ranks of assistant police chief and director of the office of operations.
Gascón was chief of the San Francisco Police Department from August 7, 2009, to January 9, 2011, succeeding Heather Fong.
He was replaced by Greg Suhr, who was sworn in on April 27, 2011. As chief of police, he focused on reform, crime reduction and modernizing the department. He introduced CompStat, a computerized tracking system that collects and analyzes crime statistics, identifies trouble spots and serves as an accountability tool for the department.
He also created the city’s first Brady Policy and enhanced internal affairs
During his tenure, murder rates were the lowest in over half a century. In May 2015, Gascón ordered a review of at least 3,000 arrests over the last 10 years, to look for evidence of racial bias, based on 14 police officers" racist and homophobic text messages uncovered that year.
He appointed retired judges Cruz Reynoso, LaDoris Hazzard Cordell and Dickran Tevrizian to review the cases.
Volunteer attorney Legal Services Program for Pasadena. Board member Southern California Leadership Network. Member of International Association of Chiefs of Police, Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association, California Bar Association (executive board member Criminal Law Section).
Married; 2 children.