SHERIFF LEE BACA

A sympathetic biography of Lee Baca, the former Los Angles sheriff known for his progressive reforms and criminal convictions.

As an infant, Baca was accidentally burned by a hot iron, which would cause him years of anguish and disability. By the time he was 7, in the late 1940s, he’d been abandoned by both his parents, taken in by his grandparents in Los Angeles, and tasked with helping to care for a disabled uncle. When he heard a presentation by a Los Angeles police officer on career day, he knew immediately that he would devote himself to law enforcement. He barely passed the entrance exam to become a deputy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 1965 and quickly distinguished himself as committed to reform. As author Richardson puts it: “From Lee’s first days in the academy, it was clear to his training officers and fellow trainees that he was different.” Lee would become known for his innovative ideas that advocated an approach to policing based on preventative action through a community-based approach. He instituted major reforms that addressed police violence, enacted new sensitivity training, and promoted unconventional methods for conflict resolution between officers and those who lodged complaints against them. The author diligently chronicles Baca’s remarkable career, which culminated in becoming the head of the world’s largest sheriff’s department, as well as his fall from grace when he was convicted of obstructing an FBI investigation into prison abuses and sentenced to three years in federal prison. The author attempts to rehabilitate Lee’s reputation, not only by emphasizing his extraordinary achievements, but also by depicting his conviction as unjust: “One of the good guys had been unfairly laden with the sins of nameless others.” Richardson’s case isn’t fully persuasive, as her biography partiality borders on hagiographic. However, she does succeed in justifying her reevaluation of Baca’s complex legacy. She also paints a vivid picture of LA’s troubles during her subject’s early life and law enforcement tenure, showing a county riven by crime, corruption, and racial animosity.

A thought-provoking, if sometimes-fawning, work of biographical revisionism.