Los Angeles — L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca listens to Dafer Dakhil, right, chairman of the Muslim American Homeland Security Congress, at the Omar Ibn Al Khattab Foundation in Los Angeles in March of last year. Just days before, Baca had tangled with a Republican congressman about Baca having attended fundraisers for the Islamic nonprofit group the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

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Rowland Heights — ROWLAND HEIGHTS, CA, February 25, 2011 ... L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Sherif Morsi, center in uniform, and Sgt. Mike Abdeen are among those listening to a sermon on Feb. 25. Weekly prayers followed at the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley mosque in Rowland Heights. Sgt. Abedeen and Deputy Morsi were given the full-time task of Muslim community outreach. The efforts, observers say, have helped the Sheriff's Department to forge ties and create trust.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

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Rowland Heights — Sgt. Mike Abdeen prays at the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley mosque.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

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Rowland Heights — Deputy Morsi, left in uniform, and Sgt. Abdeen at the February sermon.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

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Rowland Heights — Morsi offers Friday prayers. The outreach that Morsi and his partner are involved in is a product of Sheriff Lee Baca's empathy for the Muslim American community following 9/11 as well as his need to pinpoint legitimate terror concerns among the thousands of tips that flooded the agency following the terrorist attack. Baca said he needed his deputies inside Muslim communities.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

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Rowland Heights — Morsi, center, talks to a young member of the Muslim congregation.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

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Rowland Heights — Qari Sulaiman, left, greets Sgt. Abdeen at the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley mosque.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

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Rowland Heights — Ashraf Jakvani, Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley secretary, left, takes Morsi and Abdeen on a tour of the mosque under construction.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

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Los Angeles — Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, center, greets Maher Hathout, left, a spokesman with the Islamic Center of Southern California, at the Omar Ibn Al Khattab Foundation in March of 2010. At right is Baca's driver, Sgt. Bruce Chase.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

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