Arrests Challenge Los Angeles County Sheriff's 4-Term Tenure LOS ANGELES - A man trying to visit his brother in 2011 in a downtown Los Angeles jail was arrested by a deputy sheriff, who took him, in handcuffs, to a windowless break room and shoved him against a refrigerator. One deputy stood guard while others kicked and punched the man, still in handcuffs, his face against the floor. They wrote a report accusing the man of assault and pressed charges, which the district attorney later dropped abruptly. Months later, knowing the Sheriff's Department was facing a federal inquiry into the jails because of such episodes, two sergeants went to the home of an F.B.I. agent, demanding to know details about the investigation. When she did not comply, the sergeants lied and told her that she was a criminal suspect who faced imminent arrest. A generation ago, the Los Angeles Police Department was rocked by corruption and abuse charges after the Rodney King beating, eventually undergoing what is widely viewed as one of the most complete police turnarounds in 50 years. But these days, even as the Police Department is praised, the larger Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is enmeshed in a new round of allegations of pervasive civil rights violations that to some feel uncomfortably familiar. If the law enforcement troubles 20 years ago had one face, it was Daryl Gates, the hard-nosed police chief, who was ousted by the mayor. This time, it is Lee Baca, the entrenched sheriff, who is up for re-election next year. Though his victory was long viewed as assured, the election is turning into one freighted with the troubled history of law enforcement in this region, a referendum less on Sheriff Baca than on the agency he has led for 15 years. According to indictments filed in federal court here on Monday, the Sheriff's Department has allowed and even encouraged a culture that relies on excessive force and goes to great lengths to cover up evidence of misconduct. There are allegations of falsified reports, obstruction of justice and conspiracy with 18 officers linked to what the United States Attorney's Office here called an institutionalized behavior of acting above the law. Now, Sheriff Baca is facing renewed calls for his resignation, even as he prepares to run for his fifth term overseeing the largest county law enforcement agency in the nation. "We have now again reached a moment in time where people are - and really should be - questioning their confidence in the system," said Miriam Krinsky, a professor at Loyola Law School who led a county citizens commission investigating allegations of abuse last year. "The question really is, "How can the department function with the dark cloud that now sits over it?" This is where L.A.P.D. was at its bleakest moments, with a profound loss of the public trust. If Sheriff Baca were in this position for any private company, he would no longer be there. The Justice Department told county officials this year that it was opening a civil investigation into excessive force and abuse at the jails. The department also said it would look into whether the Sheriff's Department was complying with federal orders on the treatment of inmates with mental illness. And this summer, the Justice Department concluded that deputies had used racially biased practices and excessive force in the suburbs in the northern part of the county. In the last several months, two juries found Mr. Baca personally liable for cases of excessive force in the jails. The allegations of wrongdoing are hardly new here. For several years, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocates have repeatedly accused officials in the jails of abuse and mistreatment. Each time, Sheriff Baca has calmly said he was confident that the allegations, if true, did not reflect anything more than a few rogue deputies. Last week, he stepped in front of a wall of television cameras and said much of the same. "There is no institutional problem in the Sheriff's Department when it comes to correcting itself," he said. Please know that I respect the criminal justice system, and no one is above the law. In addition to overseeing law enforcement in vast swaths of unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, Sheriff Baca is the de facto chief for dozens of small cities throughout the county that contract with the Sheriff's Department rather than run their own police force. Sheriff Baca, 71, has for years been seen as one of the most powerful and popular politicians in the region. He attends countless community events and has supported rehabilitation and education programs in jails. But in charging two lieutenants who oversaw the units meant to handle deputy misconduct, federal prosecutors said several sheriff's officials had gone out of their way to try to cover up "illegal conduct that violated basic constitutional rights." Despite the calls for Sheriff Baca's resignation, it would be next to impossible to forcibly remove him from office. Many political observers say Sheriff Baca's name recognition and his ability to raise money will make him difficult to oust in the election next year. He faces a challenge from a longtime aide, Paul Tanaka, an undersheriff whom Mr. Baca forced out amid accusations that he personally encouraged aggressive behavior in the jails. Bob Olmsted, a former commander who oversaw the jails several years ago, said he had reduced the use of force and repeatedly taken concerns to Mr. Tanaka and Sheriff Baca but had been rebuffed. Now, Mr. Olmsted, too, is running for Sheriff Baca's seat. "The thinking really has been created where the inmates are thought of as animals to be dealt with, and the attitude was always we could not take bad news to the high levels," Mr. Olmsted said in an interview. The situation has gotten so bad over time because nobody has dealt with it. I lay it completely at the feet of leadership. Sheriff Baca has not faced a serious challenge since he was first elected in 1998 - after the sheriff, Sherman Block, died a few days before the vote. Mark Ridley-Thomas, a county supervisor, suggested that the recent troubles may indicate the time has come to make the office an appointed position, much like the city's police chief. Such a change would need to come from state lawmakers. "To say the least, what was in place did not effectively help root out these fundamental problems," said Mr. Ridley-Thomas, who has also pressed for a permanent citizens oversight review board, like the one the Los Angeles Police Department has in place. What's the rationale to have an administrative position subject to the politics of the day? You don't get a better product from a sheriff than you do from an appointed police chief.