LA Times: LA Sheriff Lee Baca Plans to Retire Tuesday

The Los Angeles Times
reported late Jan. 6 that LA Sheriff Lee Baca would aannounce
his retirement Tuesday, a month after 18 Los Angeles
Sheriff’s Department (LASD) officials were charged with federal
crimes
ranging from excessive force used on jail inmates and visitors to
hiding an FBI informant from his handlers. The announcement is
expected at a 10am press conference. From the
LA Times this morning:

The news of Baca’s decision to step down has stunned people
inside and outside the Sheriff’s Department. He was locked in a
tough reelection battle amid several scandals that beset the
department.

Baca, 71, told top officials in county government late
Monday that he believes stepping down would help the department
recover after several years of tumult and criticism,
according to sources familiar with the conversations.

“This scandal has been developing over the years. It’s not as if
these indictments came down in a vacuum,” said Legal
Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern
California (ACLU-SC), Peter Eliasberg to Reason TV in
Dec. 2013. “When you have 18 that are federally
indicted. That’s a major, major problem.”

For more on problems in the L.A. County Jail system watch,
LA County
Jail Officers Charged with Federal Crimes; Jail monitors
Respond:

Baca also
faced criticism over hiring numerous problem officers in
2010 that had histories of misconduct at other law enforcement
agencies, had solicited prostitutes, falsified police records and
unlawfully discharged firearms. LASD admitted to hiring at least 80
problem officers but still may not be able to fire them because
they
hired them knowing they had problems.

For more on the LASD and misconduct in the department,
read and watch LA
County Sheriff’s Hassle Photographer, Trample Constitution, Get
Lauded by Bosses: