The Weekly's Head Count of the 48 New Faces Who Want to Be Your Next Sheriff

- Robert H. Lewis Jr. -

Residence: Lake Elsinore

Current job: Unemployed after working three years as a social-development director and the previous five as an environmental-safety manager

Law-enforcement experience: 18 years as a police officer for an unspecified city

Education: University of Phoenix (undergraduate), Minot State University (graduate)

Quotable: “Advanced skill level as it relates to word processing.”

* * Beau Babka * *

Residence: Draper, Utah

Current job: Undersheriff of Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office

Law-enforcement experience: Served as police chief of South Salt Lake

Orange County connection: Babka and his wife were married and lived in Laguna Niguel.

Education: Weber State University (undergraduate), Brigham Young University (graduate)

Claim to fame: Performs an “Ask Beau” public-safety segment on a Salt Lake City radio show

Notable: Ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Democrat in 2004 and took over a police force in South Salt Lake City that had been plagued by five officers who’d either groped a female motorist, committed theft, used cocaine or beaten a spouse

Quotable: “I’m very open to opening our ?police department to the scrutiny I think it probably deserves,” Babka said in 2006, regarding the scandals.

- James N. Speros -

Residence: British Columbia, Canada

Current job: Retired from San Francisco Police Department as a captain

Law-enforcement experience: Campus cop, patrol officer and special-operations commander for the Pentagon in Afghanistan

Education: San Francisco State University

Notable: Won 150 awards during his career

- Stacey L. Smith -

Residence: Chicago, Illinois

Current job: Patrol sergeant

Law-enforcement experience: 10 years with the Chicago Police Department in various capacities, including narcotics and gang suppression, plus management over beat, desk and tactical officers

Education: Calumet College of St. Joseph (undergraduate and graduate)

Claim to fame: Recently delivered a baby while on duty

Notable: Worked full-time, raised four young children, attended college for a master’s degree and regularly worked out at a fitness pole-dancing gym

Quotable: “I don’t have a whole lot of time to be feminine,” Smith told a reporter last year. “This [exotic pole dancing] kind of helps to get your sensuality back, not to mention physical fitness.”

- Erik P. Mansoor -

Residence: San Clemente

Current job: Orange County deputy sheriff

Law-enforcement experience: Animal Control officer, Garden Grove patrol cop, deputy marshal and insurance investigator

Education: Orange Coast College (AA)

Claim to fame: Owner of Small Fortunes, an Internet retail shop that sells Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl products

Quotable: “Business as usual got us into this mess, and business as usual will keep us there.”

* * Sandra Hutchens * *

Residence: Dana Point

Current job: Retired

Law-enforcement experience: Began as a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy in 1978, rose through the ranks, and from 2003 to 2007, served as division chief for Homeland Security

Education: University of La Verne

Claim to fame: Coordinated Homeland Security Advisory Council in LA County

Notable: Trained Russian police in hate-crime prevention and investigations

- Frederick T. Brink -

Residence: Madison, Michigan

Current job: Special agent in charge for the FBI’s Mississippi offices

Law-enforcement experience: More than two decades with the FBI in Virginia, Hawaii, New York, Florida and Saudi Arabia

Education: United States Naval Academy (undergraduate), Rutgers University (graduate)

Claim to fame: Served as personal representative of the FBI director to the nations of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman

Notable: Considered an expert in foreign counterintelligence and terrorism

Quotable: “It’s never easy to investigate one of your own. However, public-corruption investigations remain a top priority,” Brink said earlier this year, after his probe nailed a Mississippi assistant police chief and another cop for repeatedly ordering a police dog to maul a suspect, and then attempting a cover-up.

- Kenneth R. Ramsey Sr. -

Residence: Batavia, Illinois

Current job: Regional coordinator at the Mid-State Organized Crime Information Center

Law-enforcement experience: Sheriff of Kane County (Illinois) from 1978 to 2006, Pentagon counterintelligence task force from 1983 to 1989

Education: National-Louis University

Claim to fame: Served as a counterintelligence agent during the Vietnam War

Notable: The Chicago Tribune once described Ramsey as a “fiercely independent” lawman known for a secretive style.

- Gerald E. Mines -

Residence: Oakland Gardens, New York

Current job: Police-procedures expert and consultant

Law-enforcement experience: Parlayed a four-year stint as a New York City Police Department captain into a job as police commissioner in Mount Vernon, New York, in 2006

Education: John Jay College of Criminal Justice (undergraduate), New England College (graduate)

Claim to fame: Rescued people during the World Trade Center attacks

Notable: Applied in 2007 to become police chief on the Hawaiian island of Kauai

- Kenneth C. Whisman -

Residence: Westfield, Indiana

Current job: Superior Court office manager

Number of employees supervised: Six

Law-enforcement experience: 24 years as a deputy sheriff

Education: Indiana University (undergraduate), Indiana Wesleyan University (graduate)

Notable: Helped investigate the infamous “gay slayings” murder mystery that plagued Indiana and Ohio during the 1980s and ’90s

- Nicholas John Paros -

Residence: Bel Air, Maryland

Current job: Owner of a Baltimore, Maryland, liquor store

Law-enforcement experience: From 1983 to 2006, Paros rose through the ranks of the Maryland State Police, eventually serving in a command position before launching a high-volume liquor store.