Baca

Since Lee Baca became Los Angeles County sheriff 15 years ago, defeating an incumbent who died days before the vote, he has never faced a serious challenge for reelection to one of California's top law enforcement jobs. But after a series of scandals and federal investigations targeting the department, that might be changing. Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Monday that he was considering a run against Baca next year. McDonnell's public exploration suggests potential political vulnerabilities amid nearly two years of bad headlines, experts said.

Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell announced Tuesday evening that he will not be challenging Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca in next year's election. McDonnell, a well-respected former Los Angeles police official, had been considering running for several months. If he had, he would have been the most formidable opponent to challenge Baca since Baca became sheriff about 15 years ago. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, McDonnell said he made his decision over the weekend, after considering how much time it would take to compete for campaign donations against an incumbent.

Re "Baca may defy proposed Trust Act," Aug. 25 L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca's commitment to violate a proposed state law he disagrees with in favor of a discretionary federal immigration law he prefers smacks of political opportunism, not public service. Baca's statements make clear the need for the governor to sign the Trust Act. Baca misunderstands federal law. It provides only for voluntary cooperation by local law enforcement with immigration agency detention requests.

Another challenger has joined the race to unseat Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. Patrick Gomez - a newly retired sheriff's lieutenant who has twice run for sheriff unsuccessfully - announced his candidacy this week. The three-decade department veteran joins a little-known LAPD detective, who has also said he's running. The most formidable potential challengers - Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell and Baca's outgoing top aide, Paul Tanaka - have said they're interested in running but haven't made final decisions about the 2014 race.

Re "Baca facing hardest test of career," Sept. 17 I once viewed Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca as an intelligent police professional. No longer. The explanation by investigators for Baca's failure to resolve the jail violence problem is that he was a bit too disengaged and uninformed. He is a busy man who runs a huge department, and I might be inclined to give him some slack based on that argument. But as The Times points out, not long ago he was able to find time for "launching 'special' criminal investigations on behalf of two contributors.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca does not play favorites, it seems: As long as you're a multimillionaire, his department's investigative resources are at your disposal. Baca's detectives have been spending an awful lot of time in the city of Beverly Hills lately, even though it's outside their jurisdiction. We were already dismayed when Times staff writer Robert Faturechi reported in October that the sheriff ordered a criminal investigation of a Beverly Hills tenant of real estate magnate Ezat Delijani, though the local police force had dismissed the case as a civil dispute and didn't ask the Sheriff's Department for help (the sheriff can legally investigate cases in any city in L.A. County, but normally this is done only by invitation)

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has spent the better part of the past year insisting that a controversial federal immigration program known as Secure Communities requires him to hold anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, if called on to do so by U.S. officials. But in fact, it does not. Compliance is optional, and on Wednesday, the Sheriff's Department conceded as much, announcing that in light of a new legal directive from California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, it will no longer detain or hand over illegal immigrants arrested for minor offenses.

It seems that Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca just can't catch a break, at least not when it comes to the county's jail system. The Board of Supervisors created a civilian oversight commission to look into allegations of violence and abuse inside the lockups. Federal officials are conducting their own probe into deputy misconduct. And on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that found Baca can be sued in connection with jailhouse violence. Dion Starr is suing Baca, alleging that the sheriff showed "deliberate indifference" to complaints of violence inside the Men's Central Jail.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca surprised some observers when he pledged this week to implement reforms recommended by a panel created to investigate problems in the jails. Baca's embrace of those proposals is encouraging as well as surprising, given that the commission was highly critical of his leadership and concluded that his failings had allowed the problems to develop. Baca deserves praise for pledging to fix the problems that occurred on his watch. His promise to implement all 63 of the recommendations made by the Citizens' Commission on Jail Violence is also heartening, especially given the sheriff's appearance before the seven-member panel earlier this year, when he defiantly told the commissioners that they lacked authority to tell him how to do his job. Baca's lamentable resistance then has given way to a far more accommodating posture today.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Wednesday that he will convene a panel to examine deputy-involved shootings -- two days after a deputy fatally shot an unarmed man in the back of the neck and side during a foot pursuit. The incident marked the 10th fatal deputy-involved shooting in 2009, twice the number of such cases for the same period last year. The shooting took place Monday in Athens when sheriff's officials said that a man matching the description of an armed suspect placed his hands in his waistband as he ran from a deputy.

The Times' editorial Thursday on the dysfunction at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was only half right in concluding that the recent spat between Sheriff Lee Baca and former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka "should serve as a catalyst to speed along the Board of Supervisors in hiring an independent inspector general to oversee the department," as recommended by the Citizen's Commission on Jail Violence.  What is missing is the recommendation by...

Paul Tanaka was once a trusted aide to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and, in the view of many department critics, the real power behind the badge. But earlier this year, Tanaka was forced out of his job, and now, in a jaw-dropping interview with The Times' Robert Faturechi, he has accused Baca of a variety of misdeeds, including nepotism, fostering a culture of abuse and putting politics (and foreign travel) ahead of public safety. Whether those charges are accurate or merely the angry allegations of your typical disgruntled former employee is not yet clear.

Times reporter Robert Faturechi will join L.A. Now Live on Wednesday at 9 a.m. to discuss his latest story on L.A. County's embattled Sheriff's Department: an exclusive interview with Paul Tanaka, the department's second in command. Weeks after Sheriff Lee Baca pressured him to step down, Tanaka delivered a searing critique of his old boss and the department, which he said is "on the verge of anarchy. " Tanaka alleges that Baca pressured subordinates to hire his friends and relatives.

Paul Tanaka, the Los Angeles County undersheriff accused of fostering a culture of jailhouse abuse, offered a searing critique of his boss Sheriff Lee Baca, calling him a confused and erratic leader who cares more about politics than public safety. In his first extensive comments since being pressured to step down, Tanaka told The Times that Baca pushed subordinates to hire his friends and relatives and undermined public safety to settle political spats. For example, Tanaka said Baca demanded that all sheriff's deputies be removed from joint crime-fighting operations with the FBI as payback for a federal investigation of the jails - an order Tanaka said he refused to carry out. Tanaka, who is considering a run against Baca in 2014, said he was speaking out because he feels he has been made a scapegoat for many of the agency's problems.

End of an era. UCLA guard Jeff Baca was drafted in the sixth round by the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. He is the first UCLA offensive lineman selected by an NFL team this century. Tackle Kris Farris was taken in the third round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1999. Baca and UCLA teammate Jeff Locke were drafted by the Vikings. UCLA's Datone Jones and Johnathan Franklin were drafted by the Green Bay Packers. Make the goodbyes short. You're now mortal enemies. Vikings and Packers are one of the NFL's most intense rivalries.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on Thursday named replacements for three transit department supervisors who were demoted in connection with an alleged cheating scandal. Sheriff Lee Baca appointed Ronene Anda, a 29-year Sheriff's Department veteran, as acting commander of the Transit Services Bureau. Anda replaces Cmdr. Pat Jordan. The sheriff also replaced two captains who reported to Jordon. “This happened fairly suddenly,” said Marc Littman, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which holds an $80-million contract with the transit bureau to protect county buses and rail.

Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell announced Tuesday evening that he will not be challenging Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca in next year's election. McDonnell, a well-respected former Los Angeles police official, had been considering running for several months. If he had, he would have been the most formidable opponent to challenge Baca since Baca became sheriff about 15 years ago. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, McDonnell said he made his decision over the weekend, after considering how much time it would take to compete for campaign donations against an incumbent.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca pressured his second-in-command to retire amid an abuse scandal in the jails, sources told the Los Angeles Times. Join us at 9 a.m. as we discuss Tanaka's retirement and Baca's recent actions with Los Angeles Times reporter Robert Faturechi. Despite repeated public assertions that Undersheriff Paul Tanaka was doing well, privately Baca pushed for Tanaka to retire, the Times reported . Tanaka's retirement -- effective Aug. 1 -- is one of several changes in the department in the wake of a federal investigation and watchdog probe into how sheriff's deputies treat jail inmates and visitors.

Federal prosecutors examining jail abuse and other problems in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are expected to interview Sheriff Lee Baca on Friday. Part of the inquiry centers on whether Sheriff's Department officials obstructed an FBI investigation by holding inmate Anthony Brown under aliases and moving him. In an interview this week with The Times' editorial board, Baca said he's been assured that he's not a target of the investigation. Federal officials have declined to discuss details of the case.

They called it Operation Pandora's Box. Los Angeles County sheriff's officials learned in the summer of 2011 that the FBI had enlisted an inmate in the Men's Central Jail to collect information on allegedly abusive and corrupt deputies. In an unusual move, sheriff's officials responded by moving the inmate, a convicted bank robber, to a different jail under fake names, including Robin Banks. They assigned at least 13 deputies to watch him around the clock, according to documents reviewed by The Times.