However, after returning to San Francisco at 19, Cahill, a red-headed Irishman, could find little work and drove for the City Ice company.

Cahill's first statement after assuming the office of chief was that Ahern's policies would continue in force, which meant "strict departmental discipline, heads up efficiency and a 'closed town.'"

"[citation needed] Cahill was hailed at the time of his appointment as SFPD chief by Mayor George Christopher.

[3] Cahill, in an interview with local San Francisco media shortly before his death, claimed his relationship with Mayor John F. Shelley was broken by the Summer of Love in 1967: "Jack Shelley, (a Democrat, former liberal congressman and labor leader), did not want to show a heavy hand toward the Hippie & Flower Children element."

He was the only police chief in the country to be on the acclaimed television program, Meet the Press, and his discernment and articulateness struck everyone, when he appeared as a panelist on February 19, 1967.

[1] Cahill retired from the force on February 4, 1970, after a request from Mayor Joseph Alioto, who later appointed Alfred Nelder as San Francisco Police Chief.

[3] He died of congestive heart failure on October 12, 2002, at 92[3] in Lake County at Queen of the Valley Hospital in Clearlake Park, California.