Death in the Dynasty

It would be impossible to recount a history of Los Angeles County over the last 40-odd years without a hefty chapter devoted to Sherman Block. He had already served in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for 19 years in 1975 when he was handpicked by then-Sheriff Peter Pitchess for the No. 2 spot. Block, an Illinois native and Cal State Los Angeles graduate, had risen from deputy trainee in 1956 to various command positions in the records, intelligence, vice and detective divisions.

Pitchess’ decision amounted to a rite of succession in the odd world of Sheriff’s Department politics. When Block first ran, in 1982, there had been only three Los Angeles County sheriffs since the 1920s--William I. Traeger, Eugene Biscailuz (starting in 1932) and Pitchess (starting in 1958). A process that was no longer right for the times continued with the selection of Block: The incumbent handpicked his successor and frightened off competitors within the department. Elections were mere formalities.

Biscailuz was 74 when he stepped down. Pitchess was 70. No doubt Block, who was 74 when he died Thursday night of a cerebral hemorrhage, viewed himself in that historical light when he scoffed at those who found him too old and infirm for the job. The big difference, of course, was that each of his three immediate predecessors had groomed a replacement after long tenures.

Until recent years, Block had proven himself a capable leader of the department, with an ability to change with the times that was rare among the law enforcement leaders of his generation. By 1986 and his second run, he had met the department’s preeminent problem of jail overcrowding with vigor and imagination, pushing measures through the county and the Legislature to address court delays.

When it became apparent that the Sheriff’s Department had serious problems in controlling brutality and use of fatally excessive force by deputies, Block quit accusing the district attorney’s office of working harder to prosecute cops than criminals. He accepted and put into practice many of the reforms proposed by the Kolts Commission, named by the Board of Supervisors to investigate the department in the wake of brutality charges. Los Angeles would be better off had the Police Department moved as quickly when the Christopher Commission suggested equally strong reforms for that agency in 1991.

By 1994, Block had also faced down criticism and a major narcotics scandal within the department, receiving another election endorsement from The Times. It was presumed that would be Block’s last run for elective office, and it should have been. His final term was punctuated by scandal, from fraud in the jail purchasing department to poor treatment of mentally ill inmates. The problems clearly stemmed from bad or unwatchful management, and the buck stopped at the desk of the increasingly ill sheriff.

Block’s death may end a decades-long run of sheriffs who might well have been the most powerful elected county officials of their eras. Other politicians scrambled to get Block’s blessing at election time. His strong hold over the county may be exceeded only by the power vacuum his death leaves behind on the eve of an election.