Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, whose office is under a civil rights investigation by the state attorney general, announced that she will retire at the end of her current term next January.

Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith. (Photo courtesy of Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office)

Smith, who started with the Sheriff’s Office in 1973 and has been sheriff for the past 24 years, wrote a letter to the county’s residents announcing her retirement and calling attacks against her tenure as “specious attempts by unsavory political opponents in retribution for serving the public with honor.”

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Dan McMenamin is the managing editor at Bay City News, directing daily news coverage of the 12-county greater Bay Area. He has worked for BCN since 2008 and has been managing editor since 2014 after previously serving as BCN’s San Francisco bureau reporter. A UC Davis graduate, he came to BCN after working for a newspaper and nonprofit in the Davis area. He handles staffing, including coaching of our interns, day-to-day coverage decisions and management of the newswire.

Victoria Franco is a Stockton-based reporter covering the diverse news around the Central Valley as part of the Report for America program. As a Stockton native, Franco is proud to cover stories within her community and report a variety of coverage. She is a San Jose State University alumna with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism. In her collegiate years she was Managing Editor for the Spartan Daily. From her time at the Spartan Daily she helped lead her staff to California College Media Awards and a General Excellence first place. Victoria encourages readers to email her story tips and ideas at victoria.franco@baycitynews.com.