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L.A. County Sheriff Baca Pushes For Religious Tolerance Post-9/11

Ryan Faughnder |
September 7, 2011 | 12:10 p.m. PDT

Senior News Editor

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)
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.

Read more here.

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.



 

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