Status quo for top cops

Re “How to get a better sheriff,” Opinion, June 26

Regarding Steve Remige’s proposal that sheriffs not be elected, I disagree. Most sheriffs come up through the ranks and thus typically have a long-established familiarity with the culture, operation and missions of their departments and with the community.

Political appointment is rarely a guarantee of capability or success, as the Los Angeles Police Department’s experiences with several appointed chiefs through the 1990s demonstrate.

More important, however -- as the different opinions on the nature of the county’s gang violence expressed in recent weeks by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and LAPD Chief William J. Bratton demonstrate -- elected sheriffs may have a level of independence to candidly express views that may be controversial but are nonetheless worthy of consideration. Political appointment would eliminate that independence.

Tom Oster

Los Angeles