Pacifica Institute Luncheon Forum hosts LA County Sheriff Leroy D. Baca as the first speaker of 2008. The luncheon series aims to serve as a medium and a venue to cultivate friendship, strengthen civic dialogue and deepen awareness among the many diverse ethnic and civil communities in Los Angeles.
In the first luncheon forum, FBI-LA Supervisory Special Agent Vovietta Morgan talked about what FBI has been doing to make the city a safe place to live. Then nationally renowned scholar Dr Reza Aslan presented his views on multiculturalism in America and Europe. This day, LA County Sheriff Lee Baca honors the institute today. Sheriff heads the largest sheriff department in the world.
The core values of the deputies of the Sheriff Department are “To honorably perform my duties with respect for the dignity of all people, integrity to do right and fight wrongs, wisdom to apply common sense and fairness in all I do and courage to stand against racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and bigotry in all its forms.
Sheriff Baca commands the largest Sheriff’s Department in the United States with a budget of 2.4 billion dollars. He leads over 18,000 budgeted sworn and professional staff. The Sheriff’s Department is the law enforcement provider to 40 incorporated cities, 90 unincorporated communities, 9 community colleges, and hundreds of thousands of daily commuters of the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Rapid Rail Transit District. Over 4 million people are directly protected by the Sheriff’s Department.
The Sheriff’s Department also protects 58 Superior Courts and 600 bench officers. Moreover, the Department manages the Nation’s largest local jail system housing over 20,000 prisoners. Sheriff Baca is the Director of Homeland Security-Mutual Aid for California Region I, which includes the County of Orange. Region I serves 13 million people. Sheriff Baca incorporates innovative best practices into his leadership style based on pro-active, progressive problem solving. His development of leadership qualities in all levels of the Sheriff’s Department have resulted in strong solutions to problems such as drug addiction, domestic violence, homelessness, gangs, illiteracy, at-risk youth, parenting, and the quality of life in neighborhoods. He also manages four non-profit Youth Athletic League Centers serving at-risk youth in after-school programs involving academics, sports, and cultural arts. Sheriff Baca also developed the Office of Independent Review, comprised of six civil rights attorneys who manage all internal affairs and internal criminal investigations concerning alleged misconduct by Department personnel. This unique model of civilian oversight is a natural model of police accountability.
Sheriff Baca earned his Doctorate of Public Administration Degree from the University of Southern California. He is a life member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, USC Chapter. A strong advocate of education, he developed the LASD University in conjunction with 13 universities where over 950 members of the Sheriff’s Department are enrolled in Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree programs. Sheriff Baca was elected Sheriff of Los Angeles County in December 1998, and was re-elected in June 2006 for his third term in office. He entered the Sheriff’s Department on August 23, 1965. He served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves. After presenting the biography of the Sheriff, he was invited to the stage and here is some of the things he said.
Thank you very much. I think I will use my own voice instead of the mic. Thank you for coming here today and talking about a very important subject. As a graduate of the Pacifica Institute’s program and I say this with pleasure along with my co graduates here. You need to know my perspective as to what Pacifica Institute is.
It has never been more challenging before. It is challenging because there are things that are going on in every country in the world in which the governments have responsibilities first to their people and then to the people of the world. Pacifica Institute plays a vital role in building bridges of peace and prosperity.
Los Angeles County is self proclaiming itself the diversity capital of the world. We take that from New York because they do not have the Asian Continent population that we have. There is 10 million people living in Los Angeles county thus making the most populated local government in America. All countries in the world has a representation here either by people or by their consul generals. Here is the Turkish Consul General as a witness to what I am saying and the affirmation of that fact. We have over a hundred consulates proactively engaging with the society here in LA County either at business level or cultural level or educational level or religious level.
So where we are is that we are at a point of experimentation in the history of building what I started with my points. It is building peace, prosperity and building the sense of growth and responsibility as a world community. Former President Bill Clinton talked about world citizenship last year and the timing is perfect in the 21st century.
Traveling in Turkey gave me a fuller understanding that an Islamic country can do things on a level of quality involvement with other faiths and other nationalities. This country offers its own people as a bridge of diplomacy. I call it professional diplomacy.
Afterwards Sheriff Leroy D Baca elaborated the role of leadership in an age when there are more interactions than ever before and he added that is where the challenges and the rewards lie ahead in future.
Then came the Q&A session and followed by the lunch served to the guests.