Incident
Chief of Police William Biggy drowned after he fell overboard from the police launch Patrol near Alcatraz.
Chief Biggy was a California National Guard veteran and had served with the San Francisco Police Department for over one year, combining his two different appointments as the chief of police.
He is buried in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Colma, California.
Survivors
Survivors include his wife and five children.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-CA-0090C282- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Chief of Police Biggy gave the San Francisco Police Department 8 years.
Thank you for your service to the San Francisco community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Biggy.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Chief of Police William J. Biggy is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In CA, 719 of 1,837 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 39.1% of this state's fallen. That is 8.1 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.
At San Francisco Police Department, 35 of 106 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 33% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. William J. Biggy's cause is highlighted.
How William J. Biggy Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. William J. Biggy is highlighted in Nov.
Others Who Wore This Badge
105 officers from San Francisco Police Department are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.














