Robert G. Luna is an American law enforcement officer who is the

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

, previously serving as Chief of the Long Beach Police Department before defeating Sheriff

Alex Villanueva Alejandro Villanueva is an American law enforcement officer who served as the 33rd sheriff of Los Angeles County, California. He defeated incumbent sheriff Jim McDonnell in the 2018 L.A. County Sheriff's race, making him the first to unseat a ...

in the 2022 election.

Early life

Luna was born and raised in

East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

to immigrant parents and has said that his early experiences with deputies patrolling his neighborhood shaped his view in law enforcement. He attended and later graduated from

Long Beach City College Long Beach City College (LBCC) is a public community college in Long Beach, California. It was established in 1927 and is divided into two campuses, the Liberal Arts Campus in Lakewood Village and the Pacific Coast Campus in central Long Beach ...

, where he met Long Beach Police Sergeant Mike Woodward and decided to pursue becoming a law enforcement officer.

Career

Long Beach Police Department

In 1985, he joined the Long Beach Police Department and served as a

patrol officer A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as law enforcement officers, military personnel, or security personnel, that are assigned to monitor or secure a specific geographic area. Etymology From French ''patrouiller'', from Old Fren ...

and on the

SWAT team In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

and was named as the Deputy Chief in 2006. In 2014, Luna was appointed as the 26th Chief of the Long Beach Police Department, succeeding Jim McDonnell who had become the Sheriff of Los Angeles County. In September 2021, Luna announced that he would retire in December of that year.

Los Angeles County Sheriff

In December 2021, Luna entered the race for the 2022 Los Angeles County Sheriff election, challenging incumbent

alongside a crowded field of candidates. In the primary election, Luna scored second place in the election, putting him against Villanueva in the general election. In the general election, Luna beat Villanueva to become Sheriff, with Villanueva conceding on November 15, 2022. Luna was sworn in as Sheriff on December 5, 2022.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Los Angeles County, California sheriffs California Republicans California Democrats American municipal police chiefs Long Beach City College alumni People from East Los Angeles, California {{US-law-enforcement-bio-stub