Altadena’s new sheriff captain brings a wealth of experience to the job
by Timothy Rutt
John Benedict was the son of a deputy sheriff. He was raised in the Pacoima area, and his dad had lots of friends in the LAPD. But it wasn’t for him: “As a teenager, i really didn’t want to be in law enforcement. It wasn’t something I thought I’d end up doing.”
So he majored in psychology at San Diego State University, thinking of going into sports psychology, as he’d been an avid soccer player, even when young. But he wound up in advertising, and didn’t like it much. His dad had a suggestion.
“Dad said I should go to the [sheriff] academy,” Benedict said. “He basically used reverse psychology on me -- ‘I don’t think you could do it, I don’t think you could graduate from the academy class.’”
So he set out to prove his father wrong, Benedict said. But: “I went to the academy, and I went -- I love this, this is awesome, this is great stuff,” Benedict said. “I enjoyed it. I went on some ridealongs and said, you know, this is what I want to do.”
Benedict said this in the comfort of his new location: the Altadena Sheriff Station. Benedict, an almost 31-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, became Altadena’s new captain on April 1.
A variety of experience
Benedict brings a well-rounded set of experiences to the Altadena captain’s chair: jail and correctional, administrative, patrol and detectives, and community liaison with cities that contract with the sheriff’s department to provide police services.
Benedict was sworn in as an officer on Aug. 24, 1981. Sheriff’s deputies who haven’t yet gone to the academy go into an “off the streeter” program, which in Benedict’s case was spending three months doing administrative work at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles.
He finally graduated from the academy in May 1982, where he was assigned to working in the jails for a couple of years as most deputies are. He had an early patrol assignment to the Lennox station before moving to the old Malibu sheriff station where he worked as a field training officer and detective until he was promoted to sergeant.
As a sergeant, he spent six months at the North County Correctional Facility and then spent two years patrolling West Hollywood. But Benedict had some career ambitions: “I figured I needed to get more well-rounded, so I was looking for an administrative type job where I could learn the ins and outs of budgeting and personnel.”
He found it in a branch of the department he’d never heard of: Medical Services.
Keeping the inmates healthy
“The jails actually have a complete staff of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists -- you name it -- in order to deal with inmate care,” Benedict said. “It was interesting work -- I think after I got into Medical Services, I could be the administrator of a hospital.”
In about two years there, Benedict helped the division automate its inmate medical files, started a recruitment project for nurses from the University of Southern California, and started the process of opening up a correctional hospital.
When his captain was promoted to chief, Benedict joined him as a personal aide, dealing with “nothing but custody issues,” he said. When the chief moved over to court services, Benedict followed, working in the west bureau for areas including Van Nuys, Malibu, Santa Monica, and the Beverly Hills courts.
Benedict became an operations lieutenant, and went to the Malibu/Lost Hills station as watch commander and liaison to contract cities in the area. This also involved going back on patrol.
“I love patrol,” he said “I spent a lot of time on patrol ... I enjoy the patrol environment.”
Working in diverse communities
He spent six months as watch commander when the station captain asked him to take over the detective bureau there. “We did some great stuff back there,” Benedict said. “We had a very successful crime reduction.”
The Malibu/Lost Hills area is a “pretty diverse community, Benedict said, with a large recreational component, including hiking and camping, which he says makes it somewhat similar to Altadena.
Then, he was asked by Chief Neal Tyler to become his executive aide, a position he held for about a year before being tapped as Altadena’s captain.
“A lot of administrative paperwork is filtered through the aide,” Benedict said. Tyler is the chief for Region !, which encompasses eight stations, including Altadena. He became familiar with Altadena through his work there and almost-daily contact with Altadena’s operations lieutenant, Roosevelt Johnson.
(Everybody change places: now that Benedict has moved to Altadena, Johnson has taken Benedict’s previous position as Chief Tyler’s aide. Lt. Duane Allen, Altadena’s detective lieutenant, is now Altadena’s operations lieutenant, replacing Johnson).
Taking opportunities
“That’s the good thing about the sheriff’s department,” Benedict said. “There are so many opportunities to work in different places and learn so many different things that by the time you get to be a captain at a station, often times you’ve gone through and had the opportunity to work so many different types of jobs and so many different types of assignments that it really prepares you. The Sheriff Department does a really good job of that.”
One of the things that has helped his career, he said, has been mentorship -- Benedict says he’s had many good mentors who’ve helped him along the way, and he wants to pass that to his officers. He says he wants to “support the people who are here, helping them with their careers, helping them with their assignments, and taking the stuff that I’ve learned and passing it along, that’s what it’s all about.”
As for working in Altadena, Benedict says “I can see already that there’ s a real sense of community here, which I think is great -- I want to be a part of that. I plan on making this a home away from home. i’ve already spoken to my wife and told her this is a responsibility I don’t take lightly, but it’s something that I’m going to have to jump in feet first, hit the ground running. i’m looking to get involved with the community -- I’m looking to have a partnership with the people that are part of the community ... I want the community to know that I’m not just the captain at Altadena, but I have family and I have friends.”
In his off time, Benedict has been involved in boy’s soccer coaching and personal training -- he’s currently training a club team. He has a sport-loving family and says his wife Stacy is a real sports fanatic in the house. As part of the family’s support for his new job, Benedict says expect to see his wife volunteering around Altadena.
The Benedicts have two daughters: Alexis, who is 14 and in high school; and their older daughter, Amy, who is a detective secretary at the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff’s station and waiting to get into the sheriff academy -- she wants to be a deputy.
Benedict credits his late father, whom he called “a visionary,” for putting him in a job he loves. What finally sold the prodigal psychologist on a law enforcement career is “I can help people, I can make an impact, and do something I’ll feel good about at the end of the day,” Benedict said.
"Of course, there are bad days, but you know, for the most part, after 30 years on this department, they are really, really good days. Otherwise l wouldn’t be here -- it’s been a blessing.”
