In 1975 , Gain was appointed to run the San Francisco Police Department by Mayor George Moscone and served until 1980 . After Gain began implementing reforms , such as switching police cars from their traditional black and white paint scheme to baby blue , the Police Officers Association held a no-confidence vote on him . After Moscone was assassinated in 1978 , the union was influential in engineering Gain 's replacement after the resulting White Night riots . He died from respiratory failure in August 2018 at the age of 94
Moscone was assassinated
Moscone–Milk assassinations
Charles Gain