succeeded death_date death_place children birth_place religion party nationality office preceded footnotes birth_date term_start spouse article_title term_end name occupation
greg donald phares 2 august 2008 baton rouge , louisiana gary stephen litchfield -lrb- born 1958 -rrb- meridian , lauderdale county , mississippi , usa baptist republican party american sheriff of east baton rouge parish , louisiana j. al amiss litchfield of east baton rouge parish , having won elections as served a republican in an historically democratic state . for more than two decades as sheriff 29 january 1927 1983 margery ann evans litchfield -lrb- 1931 -- 2005 -rrb- elmer litchfield
 december 1 , 2006 elmer b. litchfield law-enforcement officer
elmer litchfield

elmer b. litchfield -lrb- january 29 , 1927 -- august 2 , 2008 -rrb- was a long-serving sheriff of populous east baton rouge parish , louisiana , known for his modernization of law-enforcement procedures .
a republican in an historically , but decreasingly democratic state , litchfield was first elected as sheriff of east baton rouge in 1983 and won large majorities in his five subsequent reelections .
he retired because of health problems , effective december 1 , 2006 , with more than a year remaining in his sixth term .
litchfield was a native of meridian , mississippi , the seat of lauderdale county .
he graduated from the university of mississippi at oxford in 1950 .
he served nearly two years in the united states marine corps .
litchfield launched his career in law enforcement with the federal bureau of investigation in 1951 .
he worked as a special agent in boston and chicago , and eventually in new orleans and baton rouge .
he retired from the fbi in 1979 and then served with the louisiana state commission on law enforcement until he was elected sheriff .
colonel greg donald phares -lrb- born 1956 -rrb- , the chief criminal deputy , succeeded litchfield as acting sheriff .
phares , a republican was defeated in the november 17 , 2007 , general election by the democrat , sid j. gautreaux , iii , the veteran police chief in baker .
gautreaux polled 40,624 -lrb- 52 percent -rrb- to phares ' 38,224 -lrb- 48 percent -rrb- in an election with a 31 percent turnout .
in the primary , phares had led gautreaux , 46-37 percent , but the combined overall democratic vote was then 51 percent .
gautreaux became sheriff immediately because the election was a combination general election and a special election for the months left in litchfield 's term .
phares declared litchfield `` one of the finest law enforcement officers i 've ever worked for . ''
litchfield announced in 2004 that he would not run again and that he strongly supported phares as his successor .
litchfield and phares met in 1973 , when phares was serving as a city police detective , and litchfield was an fbi agent .
they worked together on a bank robbery case .
