Mountain View Police Chief Chris Hsiung, county native and San Mateo resident, tapped for undersheriff role

Hsiung, a Foster City native currently raising four children with his wife in San Mateo, has dedicated more than three decades of his life to law enforcement. His interest in the field was sparked at a young age, when Hsiung, a Hillsdale High School graduate, first became a police explorer and community service officer with the Foster City Police Department. 

He would go on to earn his bachelor’s degree in sociology and behavioral science from San Jose State University and a master’s in eBusiness management from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont. He also graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Senior Executives in State and Local Government program. 

For the last 28 years, Hsiung has worked with the Mountain View Police Department where he filled investigative, tactical and other leadership roles in all agency divisions, eventually being appointed police chief in 2020. After two years leading the department, his retirement from the Mountain View Police Department was announced in a press release Monday. 

Professional experience 

Hsiung’s modern approach to policing and his local roots are large reasons why Corpus tapped him to be her second in command, she said. Initially, she had considered launching a nationwide search but after continually bumping into Hsiung at events, reviewing his advocacy and public speaking work and meeting with him, she decided he was the perfect fit.

“He inspires people and that’s what I was looking for, someone inspirational,” Corpus said. “I didn’t want someone who’s going to appease me and tell me ‘yes.’ I really want someone who’s going to be a part of my team and work with me. … I was looking for someone to be a contributor and to really help bring this organization into 21st century policing.”

While leading the agency, Hsiung is credited with building a stronger relationship between the department and the community in part by forming two ad-hoc committees — the Latino Community Advisory Council and the Faith-Based Leadership Council. 

He also helped launch the department’s Behavioral Science Unit, a pilot program meant to improve police responses in cases of mental health distress. San Mateo County has two similar programs of its own — the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team, a partnership between the Sheriff’s Office with the Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Department, and the Community Wellness and Crisis Response Team Program which partners BHRS with Redwood City, San Mateo, South San Francisco and Daly City.

Hsiung is also a founding board member of “The Curve,” a nationally supported nonprofit focused on providing up-to-date leadership development and resources to police forces, co-chair of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Human and Civil Rights Committee, and board member of the Global Advisory Council for the Crisis Ready Institute. Formerly, he was president of the Government Social Media Leadership Council, board member of the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center and a two-term member of San Mateo’s Community Relations Commission. 

A modern approach 

Hsiung said he was persuaded to take the undersheriff role after meeting with Corpus and discovering both have similar views on the need for an evolving and transparent police force. He and Corpus both spoke in favor of Sheriff’s Office oversight, expanding the county’s mental health response programs and properly supporting the well-being of department employees.

“When I was first approached by Sheriff Corpus I wasn’t that interested, but the more I talked to her the more I realized we shared very similar values not just on what law enforcement is like but where it should be going,” Hsiung said. “The path forward for policing and law enforcement is transparency. If the public doesn’t understand what we do and why we do it, they’re left to fill that blank with misconceptions they pick up from Hollywood or movies.”

Like Corpus, whose election as sheriff made her one of the first Latinas to hold the position in California history, Hsiung will also make history in San Mateo County as the department’s first Asian American undersheriff. 

When he first entered the force more than 30 years ago, Hsiung said minorities were not commonly represented in uniform. But, over the decades, police departments have begun to look more like the communities they’re tasked with protecting, sending a message to children of all backgrounds that a future on the force is possible for them too. 

“It sends a great image to those kids who may, by default, think they don’t have a chance in these positions. But they see there are those examples,” Hsiung said. “To me, it’s very empowering to know the youth of the next generation will feel a lot more emboldened and able to pursue this as a career choice because we’re able to model that for them.” 

Corpus said Hsiung’s diverse background is a bonus to the real reason she selected him — his diversity of thought. 

“We share a modern approach to policing and I know he will help me make the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office the premier law enforcement agency we should be,” Corpus said. “I feel like he and I together, along with the organization — we’re going to be able to do great things in San Mateo County.”

Corpus will assume office in early January, replacing outgoing Sheriff Carlos Bolanos. Hsiung will then join Corpus in early February. In 2021, the sheriff made just more than $300,000 without benefits while the undersheriff made nearly $291,000 in base pay.