"He was everybody's favorite... rough, tough, straight-forward, but a straight-shooter, and everybody respected that from him," said Haggerty.

Haggerty credits the values Samaniego brought to the sheriff's department nearly 25 years ago in turning around an agency once in disarray.

"He's brought this sheriff's department to the No. 1 sheriff's department in the state of Texas. He's met all or exceeded every award that can be given to a sheriff's department," said Haggerty.

According to Haggerty, that made him one of El Paso's most popular elected officials.

"They say that if Jesus Christ came back down to Earth and ran for a political office, he probably couldn't get more than 80 percent of the vote, and I think Leo captured about 86 percent of the vote," said Haggerty.

"The man had high integrity, and I think that's paramount in a law enforcement agency," said Interim Chief Greg Allen with the El Paso Police Department.

In 1978, Greg Allen was making his way through El Paso's police academy, with Samaniego as its captain.

"He was hard. In my academy, we started out, as an example, with 69 people, and by the time we were done, we graduate 47, so he got rid of 22 people all because they weren't making those standards," said Allen.

Allen remembers one piece of advice Samaniego had for incoming officers.

"He mentioned, 'When you become a law enforcement officer or you're given the badge, you're not becoming king. If you can keep that in perspective, the authority that you're gaining as a law enforcement officer is a privilege that the community is giving you, then you'll have a career that you can be proud of one day,'" said Allen.

They considered themselves fortunate to have worked with Samaniego, and they said it's hard to believe that he's gone.

"It hasn't even sunk in with me. I can't imagine working at the courthouse without seeing the sheriff there. It's going to be rough, really rough," said Haggerty.