Block Casts a Long Shadow as Sheriff

Forty years have passed since Sherman Block made the transition from corned beef to cop.

Block was born on July 19, 1924, to a Chicago milkman and a homemaker. They later moved to Los Angeles, where Block worked as a counterman at what is now Canter’s delicatessen on Fairfax Avenue. He switched careers in 1956, joining the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at the age of 32.

A longtime resident of the West Valley, Block ascended through the department not by glad-handing, but by being a workaholic and getting along with virtually everyone he met.

He made sergeant in 1960, lieutenant in 1965 and captain in 1968, the same year he graduated with honors from Cal State Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in police science. Appointed undersheriff in March 1975, Block was sworn in as Los Angeles County’s 29th sheriff in January 1982.

Before becoming the county’s top cop, Block spent the early days of his career patrolling placid Rolling Hills Estates, where he passed his days shooting rattlesnakes and issuing traffic tickets. In 1962, Block arrested comedian Lenny Bruce for saying nasty things on stage at a West Hollywood nightclub.

Currently, Block is serving his third elected term of office and commands the largest sheriff’s department in the world, with more than 12,000 employees. He has survived two bouts with cancer as well as challenges and controversies that have faced his department, including the 1992 riots and shrinking budgets.

Charges of excessive force have been lodged against Block’s deputies following a string of deputy-involved shootings. A special task force, the Kolts Commission, found widespread problems and urged reforms in 1992. More recently, Block’s department has been accused of wasteful spending habits.

But through it all, the sheriff, who earns at least $212,000 a year, has remained a powerful political force in the county. Of his plans to run for another term, the septuagenarian said last December: “I may have a masochistic streak, but I feel there’s still work to be done.”