(December 23, 2004) -- Retired ELB Councilman Les Robbins has officially retired from his "real" job.

After thirty years of donning the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. uniform and badge, Sergeant Robbins retired from the world's largest sheriff's department on December 13.

"It was a great career, thirty years in all with the Department," Mr. Robbins said...quickly adding "we don't have [the pension boosting] 3% at 50 [formula]...and I did NOT retire on a disability."

The latter remark, both serious and wisecracking, is vintage Robbins...who transitioned from LB's City Council chamber to LB media, becoming a TV host on Charter Cable channel 3's news/current affairs program Mum's The Word (the show sponsored by "Mum's" founder John Morris) and penning opinion columns in the Beachcomber.

Les Robbins represented ELB's 5th district following Councilman Ernie Kell's ascension to Mayor in the late 1980s until LB's term limits law retired Robbins from Council office in 1998.

Robbins' law enforcement background was reflected in numerous Council public safety votes. On one occasion, he explained his support for a traffic item by noting -- his voice momentarily catching -- that he knew firsthand what it was like to notify families of a fatal accident.

He unabashedly dissented from many of his Council colleagues on public safety, even if it put him on the short side of votes to provide more officers than the Council majority thought sufficient. "There are few serious problems in Long Beach that are not in some way related to public safety," he said during a 1990's Council discussion.

"I will miss many aspects of law enforcement but it really is a young person's occupation. More free time to pursue my loves, writing, political involvement, and of course my volunteer work up at Long Beach State," Mr. Robbins briefly mentioned to us in an email...and we whipped it into this story.

Congratulations on your retirement, Sgt. Robbins.