Alexander W. Hope (died 1856), a physician and druggist, was Los Angeles County sheriff in the 1850s, a state senator, a member of the Los Angeles Common Council and the organizer of the first American law-enforcement group in the city, the forerunner of the Los Angeles Police Department. Hope was born in Virginia and died January 1856 in Los Angeles. In a special election on October 7, 1850, Hope won a seat on the Los Angeles Common Council, the city's governing body. His term ended on May 7, 1851, He also was a member of the California State Senate that year, resigning on December 22.