Local News in Brief : Anaheim : Retired Police Chief Attacks Canyon Jail Plan

Jimmie D. Kennedy, who retired last month as Anaheim police chief, Friday announced his opposition to plans by county government to build a 6,191-inmate jail in Gypsum and Coal canyons, east of Anaheim Hills.

Kennedy, in a press conference at Anaheim City Hall, said the canyon site is too close to homes. He said he was making his views public for the first time because he believed it would have been inappropriate to have done so while police chief.

Kennedy said he planned to help gather signatures in the petition drive by Taxpayers for a Centralized Jail. The citizens group is trying to qualify an initiative for the ballot that would bar the canyon site and require that future jails be built in Santa Ana.