Sheriff challenged by former No. 2

SAN JOSE — John Hirokawa, who until last year was second-in-command to Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, now appears to be vying to unseat his former boss in next year’s election.

Hirokawa, who retired as undersheriff last summer, filed his candidacy earlier this month and in the past week or so has put up a candidate website and Facebook page. Smith, the first female sheriff elected in California, is expected to run for an unprecedented sixth term that would mark 24 years as the county’s top cop.

Hirokawa, whose campaign could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday evening, served in the Sheriff’s Office for nearly four decades, steadily ascending the ranks first to assistant sheriff and then as undersheriff in 2008, a post he occupied for eight years.

Among his accolades, he was named “Officer of the Year” in 2007 by the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce and in 2000 by the San Jose Optimist Club.

In 2010, during his undersheriff tenure, Hirokawa assumed the role of chief of corrections after the Sheriff’s Office took control of the county jails from the formerly independent Department of Corrections.

That role took a rocky turn in August 2015, when mentally ill inmate Michael Tyree was found dead in his cell at the Main Jail and three correctional deputies were charged with murder.

The ensuing public outcry led to the formation of a civilian-led commission that recommended over a hundred reforms to improve the county jail system.

In brief comments, Smith did not address Hirokawa’s candidacy directly and turned attention to the jail issue.

“We’re focused on our jail transformation now that the last chief has left,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Hirokawa, 60, a graduate of San Jose State University and the FBI National Academy, is married and lives in Saratoga and has two adult children.