San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus is at odds with oversight plan

Supervisors will consider civilian oversight of the Sheriff’s Office at a special meeting Tuesday, Oct. 24. The discussion will be one of a handful the board has held on the issue in the last year in response to an organized push for oversight largely being led by Fixin’ San Mateo County, a nonprofit, grassroots organization first established in 2021.

The organization is specifically calling 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. Both the oversight board and the inspector general would have subpoena power, enabling the two bodies to investigate community complaints.

It’s that subpoena power that concerns Corpus, who argued the tool could become politicized during a time when the department is down nearly 100 deputies. The oversight, she asserts, could make recruiting more challenging because potential hires would rather work for agencies without oversight arms.

Some current deputies have also warned Corpus they’d leave the department if oversight bodies with subpoena powers were enacted, she said. The resistance to the subpoena power is not about hiding mistakes, she said, but instead comes from conversations the deputies have had with officers in nearby agencies who have complained the oversight has created conflicts between commissions and agencies.

“They’re not trying to hide something. They fear they’re already working overtime, being tapped to do more, and their peers may leave because they don’t want that added pressure; another layer of bureaucracy,” Corpus said. “There’s nothing to hide. We won’t stand for that. They fear people will leave and more will be asked of them, we’re in crisis mode.”

A community divided

Jim Lawrence, chair of Fixin’ San Mateo County’s Board of Directors, pushed back on Corpus’ concerns around recruitment by noting she “inherited an ongoing problem” given that the department has long had vacancies in the hundreds, which he credited to the area’s high cost of living.

He argued that building a strong culture of high standards in the department would help attract quality officers. He further disputed apparent warnings from deputies of leaving the department as nothing but threats that should be ignored.

Corpus also warned that pulling funding from her budget to finance the oversight body or Office of Inspector General, a cost of up to $3.5 million, would force her to cut programming in underserved communities and in county jails. But Lawrence said his group is advocating for oversight funding to come from other sources, leaving the Sheriff’s Office’s $254 million budget whole.

On striking a potential compromise, Corpus said she’d be open to discussing a smaller model without a subpoena power but she and Lawrence both said Fixin’ San Mateo County is unwilling to budge on that piece.

“I’ve been in office for 10 months. I can’t change things overnight but I am working every day to change things and I just want to make sure the impacts of whatever is decided by the board of supervisors can be everlasting and doesn’t compromise community safety,” Corpus said. “I have to change the culture of the organization and I won’t be able to so that if I have a body of people who have never stepped foot in day of the life of an officer or who don’t know about law enforcement agencies tell me how to run my organization.”

Corpus and Lawrence were also divided on whether oversight bodies help improve public safety and community trust. Corpus said her research indicates the bodies have not led to lower crime rates and have caused in-fighting. What issues the department has faced in the past happened under another sheriff’s watch, she said.

Lawrence, on the other hand, asserts jurisdictions across the state wouldn’t be investing in oversight models if they didn’t prove effective. He also noted the department has not released a report on the officer killing of Chinedu Okobi, and argued that recent data shows that Black and Hispanic residents are still much more likely to be arrested than white residents.

“Oversight is not on Sheriff Corpus. Oversight is for the Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Corpus will not be in that position for the rest of her life,” Lawrence said. “I want to bring the trust back into law enforcement. They work for us, the people of San Mateo County.”

Weighing support

Lawrence said Fixin’ San Mateo County members, many of whom supported Corpus during her race for sheriff, believe Corpus has “withdrawn from her earlier position” on supporting oversight of her department but that he wasn’t surprised. He theorized the perceived shift was fueled by a need to win over her deputies.

Meanwhile, Corpus asserts her position hasn’t changed. While she campaigned on creating advisory boards and has supported some form of oversight, she said she never advocated for oversight with subpoena power. Now nearly a year into her role, Corpus said she’s fulfilled her promise of community engagement and transparency through the formation of three advisory bodies as part of her Community Advisors for Responsible Engagement program.

Corpus said the 45 people serving on the bodies in the county’s north, south and coastside come from diverse backgrounds and have differing views on policing but Lawrence noted all members were still appointed by Corpus.

“Public safety is everyone’s responsibility. We live in a democracy. In a democracy, we the people must have a voice in shaping public safety,” Lawrence said. “Every elected body of people has checks and balances, she has none. The president has Congress, our local police chief reports to the council and the city manager. The sheriff reports to no one.”

Despite now standing on opposite ends of the oversight issue, Lawrence said Fixin’ San Mateo County still supports Corpus and believes she’s the best fit for the sheriff’s position. He shared his doubts, though, that supervisors would also come out against oversight of the department despite support for oversight from Corpus having been a selling point for different supervisors in the past.

While Corpus said the calls for oversight are coming from a small, but loud, group and a majority of residents are unaware the issue is even being discussed by the board, Lawrence noted dozens of local leaders representing the county and organizations have also endorsed Fixin’ San Mateo County’s cause including U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto; U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco; state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park; state Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto; and former U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier; Faith in Action Bay Area, Puente de la Costa Sur, and the REACH Coalition.

The Half Moon Bay City Council and North Fair Oaks Community Council, both bodies overseeing jurisdictions that are served by the Sheriff’s Office, endorsed oversight as well.

“I would be highly surprised if the board went completely against the community and said no, we’ll not have an oversight board or inspector general,” Lawrence said. “I don’t believe the board is going to stand back in the face of the community and say no because they were elected to lead.”