Supervisor Don Knabe, Interim Sheriff John Scott, and Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich – courtesy of 5th District Supervisor Antonovich’s office
LOS ANGELES – Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich along with fellow members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday welcomed Interim Sheriff John Scott to Los Angeles County as Lee Baca’s successor as Sheriff for the next 10 months.
“With considerable experience in law enforcement and strong leadership qualities, John Scott will be a superb interim sheriff to lead the department until voters elect a new sheriff,” Antonovich said in a statement released from his office.
Sheriff Scott is to be sworn-in Thursday at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in Los Angeles.
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According to an article by Rina Palta of 89.3 KPCC, Southern California Public Radio, former Orange County Undersheriff John Scott will not be a ‘placeholder’ once Baca retires.
Palta reported that when Orange County Undersheriff John Scott takes the helm of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Thursday – the largest jail system in the country and one of the nation’s biggest patrol forces – he will not be a “placeholder,” he told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
“I will begin the process immediately of restoring both the dignity to the men and women of L.A. County, and the confidence and the trust with the public that we serve,” Scott told reporters.
According to Palta, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday picked Scott as the new interim sheriff to replace retiring Sheriff Lee Baca with four votes: Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas abstained from the vote.
Scott takes over on Thursday (Jan. 30) when the “embattled Baca officially leaves the department he ran for 15 years,” Palta reported.
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Matthew Bramlett of LAist.com reported that Scott started his career in law enforcement with the LASD and stayed there for 35 years before retiring in 2005. He left for Orange County in 2008, according to City News Service. His wife, Alice, was also a captain in the department before she retired.
“The Sheriff’s Department is at a crossroads, and John has the necessary experience and skills to step in right away and lead in the interim,” Supervisor Don Knabe said at Tuesday’s news conference, according to Bramlett. “During his tenure with Orange County, John has been instrumental in turning around a department that faced similar conditions to those we face today in Los Angeles County.”
Scott takes over a beleaguered department that has been under a microscope in recent years, the LAist reports. An FBI investigation into abuses in the jails led to the indictment of 18 current and former department employees. Baca resigned in early January, citing the desire to leave “on [his] own terms.”
A primary election for sheriff will take place on June 3. If there is no clear victor, the top two vote-getters will move on to the Nov. 2 election.
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WitnessLA reports the “early word is good on the selection of Scott,” who for the last few years has served under OC Sheriff Sandy Hutchins.
Prior to his Orange County job, Scott worked for the LA County Sheriff’s Department for over 3 1/2 decades – from 1969 to 2005, Celeste Fremon of WitnessLA reports. One of his final postings at the LASD was as Chief of the Custody Division, making him familiar with – among other things – the difficulties of running the country’s largest jail system.
Fremon said that Scott told the Supes he will go back to his OC job after he finishes his tenure in LA County this coming December when a new sheriff will be sworn in. Hutchins has said she is holding the job open for Scott.
A county insider to the supervisors’ choice informed WitnessLA that “the fact that Scott had a place to go back to had a big appeal,” meaning, according to the source, that Scott wasn’t angling to run for LA sheriff himself. “It also solved the problem of, “How do you get an A-lister for the short term?’”
According to another well-placed WitnessLA source, additional selling points for the board members include the fact that, due to his decades in LA, Scott has a working knowledge of the embattled LASD, without being caught up in all the factions and intrigue to which many insiders are subject. And yet, “he knows where a lot of the bodies are buried,” the WitnessLA source said.
