Leroy David Baca (b. May 27 1942, East Los Angeles, California) is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California.
After graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School (Los Angeles) in 1960, Baca worked his way through East Los Angeles College before starting with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department as a Deputy Sheriff Trainee on August 23 1965. Baca later went back to school and graduated with a Doctorate of Public Administration from the University of Southern California in 1993.
Baca was elected Los Angeles County's 30th Sheriff against his mentor Sherman Block, who had died in office days prior to the election but remained on the ballot. He was sworn in on December 7 1998.
He was re-elected to a third term in 2006. He has been criticized for proposing a half-percent sales tax increase in 2004 to hire more deputy sheriffs, placing friends on the payroll, taking of gifts and for releasing inmates from the Los Angeles County Jail.
