San Mateo County Board of Supervisors strike balance on Sheriff’s Office oversight

The model, proposed by board Vice President Warren Slocum, is meant to balance both community calls for more say on policing and the Sheriff’s Office’s interest in independence. It calls for establishing a nine-person civilian advisory body that would hold public meetings and create reports but would not be involved in personnel issues or active investigations. Each supervisor would appoint one member to the body and a process would be developed to appoint the remaining four members. A staff liaison would come from the office of the County Executive Officer.

Supervisor Ray Mueller also received support for his suggestion to reinstate a two-person subcommittee of the board that would work closely with staff and the Sheriff’s Office on various issues. He also recommended the board consider issuing a request for proposals for a part-time or contracted inspector general position that would enable the county to create a roster of experts who can be tapped for inquiries when necessary.

“There’s a lot of common interest here. Our interests, I think, are pretty closely aligned,” Slocum said.

Calls for change

Fixin’ San Mateo County, a nonprofit formed in 2021, has largely led the drive for oversight of the Sheriff’s Office. The group has called for the formation of a citizens oversight board with 11 members appointed by the Board of Supervisors and for the formation of a new Office of the Inspector General, with both entities having subpoena power.

San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus recently came out against an oversight model with subpoena power, arguing the added bureaucracy would drive away deputies and make recruiting more challenging during a time when the department is down by nearly 100 deputies. The move, she said, would ultimately hinder public safety by further reducing the number of officers out on patrols.

Representatives from the county’s Deputy Sheriff’s Association and Organization of Sheriff’s Sergeants reiterated Corpus’ arguments by asserting deputies are overworked, often spending immense time away from their loved ones.

Despite those challenges, Undersheriff Chris Hsiung said the department has still been recognized nationally and internationally as a model to follow in the past nine months. Hsiung, who noted he previously spoke at conferences as an advocate for police reform before taking the role as undersheriff, implored the board to give the department a chance to implement cultural changes internally before instituting a strong oversight model.

“It’s incumbent upon leadership to lead from the top and drive that change from within,” Hsiung said. “When you’re out in front, when you’re at the tip of the spear doing something, there’s really nothing to compare it with because there’s no one else doing it except for maybe a few bright spots across the country.”

Proponents of a civilian oversight model equipped with subpoena power argued that the body would help create trust and stronger ties between the community and department by removing any real or perceived bias from investigations. Doing so, they argued, would also help drive interest in working for the county, which they said would help the Sheriff’s Office fill vacancies with quality candidates.

Members also stressed their interest in working collaboratively with the Sheriff’s Office rather than against it and also advocated for addressing other issues deputies shared including pay and benefit concerns. Supervisors also shared support for strong collaboration with the department and for addressing deputies’ concerns.

Accountability and lasting reform

Corpus, who campaigned on the promise of bringing more transparency and accountability to the department and had previously endorsed some form of oversight, said she was not reversing her stance during Tuesday’s meeting.

Instead, Corpus pointed to the Community Advisors for Responsible Engagement program, an initiative she led to create three advisory bodies, one in the north, south and coastside county, made up of 45 people. Corpus appointed all 45 members, an issue Fixin’ San Mateo County members said makes the boards no longer independent, but Corpus noted she only turned away a handful of the 49 people who applied for the positions because they were electeds who already had a voice.

Corpus also noted the county’s criminal justice system has other checks and balances through the Coroner’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, Controller’s Office, Board of Supervisors and the Commission on Peace Officers Standard and Training. The most important check on her, however, are the county’s 760,000 residents, she said.

“When I make decisions or policy changes, I take my sheriff’s hat off and I think about myself as a mother of two children, I think of myself as someone who has been that other voice who has faced, racism, discrimination, sexism. And I think about the people I have talked to, the people who have lost loved ones, the mother out there who has lost a child,” Corpus said. “I’ve never been against accountability, against transparency. I’ve never wavered. I’m about a model, but a model that works for our county, a model that we can engage, that we can work with together.”

Dozens of speakers who spoke in favor and against oversight lauded Corpus as a thoughtful leader but those advocating for oversight noted Corpus will eventually leave the department and without official measures in place, her replacement could reverse some transparency and accountability measures.

Some pointed to previous deputy-involved killings and two recent deaths in the county jail system as evidence oversight is needed. Others shared stories of their own negative experiences with officers including Millbrae Vice Mayor Maurice Goodman and Supervisor Noelia Corzo to underscore that some people have negative perceptions of law enforcement after real-life interactions, not just from how departments are portrayed in the media as some officers argued during the Tuesday study session.

Corzo said most officers are heroes deserving of respect. She and Goodman also said the county should look to neighboring jurisdictions to learn what does and does not work.

“There does need to be a forum where these things can be talked about, where policies can be reviewed because when you look at it from a system lens, people like my mom, people like me, 16-year-old me, who are low income, people of color, they’re at a real disadvantage because they’re not going to hire a lawyer and sue the police department or go to the media,” Corzo said. “I also believe we can compromise and we can agree on a path forward that will allow us to restore some of the harm, to have these difficult conversations.”

Slocum was also interested in further discussing potential changes to Corpus’ CARE Program that would incorporate more official county involvement. He and board President Dave Pine also shared an interest in receiving annual reports crafted by the advisory body detailing policing in the county.

Supervisors also agreed to retain subpoena power while pursuing their version of an oversight model. They can decide to grant that power to an advisory body or an inspector general if needed.

“I think this is an opportunity for the Board of Supervisors to exercise the duties it has to provide oversight to the extent provided by the law of the Sheriff,” Pine said. “There are various tools at our disposal to do that.”