Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca called for interfaith peace and harmony in a lecture in Westwood Tuesday night that was meant as a retrospective on L.A. County since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Sheriff Leroy Baca speaks at the Pacifica Institute in Westwood. (Ryan Faughnder)

Baca runs the largest sheriff's department in the U.S., with a budget of about $2.4 billion and a staff of about 18,000. In the months leading up to the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, Baca has become an unlikely advocate for peaceful Muslim-Americans. Baca recently criticized Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) Congressional hearings on Muslim-American "radicalization." In an interview with The Hill, Baca called the hearings "counterproductive."

The event was titled "Aftermath of September 11 in Los Angeles - How to look ahead to the future." But rather than focus on changes in the county from a law enforcement perspective, Baca emphasized his hope for cultures to respect one another.

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Senior News Editor Ryan Faughnder is a graduate student at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, which has partnered with KCET.org to produce this blog about policy in Los Angeles.