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Following more than eight hours of public discussion, including comments from law enforcement officers and proponents of civilian supervision, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors determined that the sheriff’s office needs a form of oversight.
While some San Mateo County residents want a civilian oversight committee with subpoena powers to look into matters involving the Sheriff’s Office, a move the agency said isn’t necessary and would undermine department stability and trust among deputies, supervisors instead considered a hybrid approach.
It would create a supervisors’ criminal justice or oversight committee and a separate civilian advisory board. The supervisors would hire an inspector general for critical cases, but the board would retain subpoena power, they said during a study session Oct. 24.
The discussion came just days after the back-to-back deaths in the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City, which is overseen by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Christina Corpus, who took the helm when she was elected last November, unseating incumbent Carlos Bolanos.
‘Building trust between law enforcement and the community is vital.’
Jim Lawrence, Fixin’ San Mateo County chair
Supporters of oversight, including advocacy groups and community members affected by the department’s actions, advocated for the committee to increase transparency in light of past and recent incidents, and racial disparities in arrest rates. And while a citizen oversight body has an estimated $3.5 million annual price tag, it would be a good investment, according to some proponents, as the county has paid thousands of dollars to settle claims against the department.
Opponents argued that oversight could lead to a potential for political interference as well as a possibility for increased bureaucracy that could draw staff away from essential duties. They believe that existing oversight procedures are sufficient for overseeing law enforcement conduct without civilian involvement.
The potential civilian oversight committee has been a long-term goal of local grassroots organization Fixin’ San Mateo County, which wants transparency in the department and civilian review of incidents involving the sheriff’s office. The organization proposed that the county hire a full-time inspector general, give civilian committee members the right to issue subpoenas and create an 11-member oversight committee, among other things. Individual committee members would receive $500 per meeting.
Reducing deputy misconduct; increasing accountability
Corpus asked the supervisors for more time to implement her plans. Corpus won on a platform of transparency and community policing, and a promise to change the department’s culture.
The department faced a public outcry after the death of Chinedu Okobi, a Black man experiencing a mental health crisis. Deputies used a Taser, pepper spray and batons during the jaywalking incident in which Okobi died. San Mateo County paid $4.5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit with Okobi’s family.
Bolanos’ direction for four deputies to raid an Indiana car shop in the Batmobile incident became another sore spot that advocates for oversight said further eroded public trust, questioning whether the Atherton resident who ordered the custom car got preferential treatment.
Jim Lawrence, board chair of Fixin’ San Mateo County and a founding member of the Coalition for Safer San Mateo County, said he supports Corpus’ reforms.
Corpus “embodies a vision of change and progress, one that promises to elevate the standards of law enforcement and public service in our county,” Lawrence said, adding that the organization’s changes are aimed at meeting the community’s changing needs and ensuring that public safety is a collective responsibility.
“A civilian oversight board with an inspector general’s office is the first step in achieving that goal here in San Mateo County,” he said.
Between 2013 and 2021, the sheriff’s office made 23,164 arrests; 77% were considered low-level crimes by today’s standards, he said.
According to Lawrence, people of color are arrested at a rate 17 times higher than that of white individuals, with Latinos facing twice the likelihood of arrest.
“Digging further into the data, police shootings where the police did not try non-deadly force before shooting, was 50%,” he said.
‘Show me the model where it’s not a highly politicized body that in fact, at times, is based on mistrust and has driven wedges with the very departments that communities are looking to build a bond with.’
Susan Manheimer, former San Mateo police chief
“Building trust between law enforcement and the community is vital,” he said.
If people believe there’s a fair and unbiased process, they’re more likely to cooperate with active investigations, he added.
County resident Akena Okobe said she is a strong supporter of independent oversight of the sheriff’s department. Five years ago, the San Mateo Coroner ruled her brother’s death a homicide at the hands of sheriff’s deputies, she said.
The county later paid out “an historic amount” to settle the civil case the Okobe family brought on against the family, Akena Okobe said. “And none of the deputies involved in his murder were ever held accountable,” she said.
She challenged the board members and the county’s response to her brother’s murder.
“Is the county prepared to break its own settlement record because another family has lost someone due to reckless and violent sheriff’s department deputies?” she said. “If an institution has shown itself to be far more deadly towards certain groups within the community, our community members are entitled to take a more active role monitoring the actions, outcomes and culture of that institution,” she said.
While many people are satisfied with the Corpus’ job performance, the issue isn’t about any one person, she added.
“It’s about institutional culture. It’s about practices. It’s about motivations. And so when I say that there should be a robust public oversight of the sheriff’s department, I’m not trying to talk about any one person. I’m saying that these are institutions that have significant impact on individual lives and in the lives of the community as a whole,” Okobe said.
Cameron McEllhiney, executive director of the National Association of Civilian Oversight for Law Enforcement (NACOLE), said civilian oversight is a critical component in building legitimacy in law enforcement. Civilian oversight operates outside the overseeing law enforcement agency, she said.
“One of the things that is a very important component of civilian oversight is that it helps to build legitimacy in law enforcement,” she said. ”The community being able to review things like investigations, policies and practices, helps to build legitimacy in the process and with the community. It also allows for people to have a better idea of what’s happening in a world that is sometimes not as accessible or visible to the community as a whole.”
Redundant oversight and political infighting?
Susan Manheimer, the former police chief of the city of San Mateo, said civilian oversight boards have mostly been disastrous where they have been implemented.
She disagreed that civilian oversight is necessary for an effective working relationship between law enforcement and the public.
“That has not been my experience and has not been borne out by the experiences I’ve had in three departments that had direct oversight. And in fact, some have been so dysfunctional and counterproductive, including some here in the Bay Area,” said Manheimer, a strategic site liaison with the Bureau of Justice Assistance in the U.S. Department of Justice.
She pointed to Oakland and San Francisco, whose oversight boards have become mired in politics.
“Show me the model that’s working. Show me the model where it’s not a highly politicized body that in fact, at times, is based on mistrust and has driven wedges with the very departments that communities are looking to build a bond with,” she said.
Civilian oversight also creates cumbersome bureaucracy, using many staff resources “to oversee the overseers. The level of debt and the level of responses to this external body oftentimes takes the very staff that you need to go out and do the work off of the streets,” she said.
Assistant County Attorney David Silberman, whom the supervisors previously directed to look into existing law enforcement oversight, noted that 14 entities or agencies already have various forms of oversight over alleged law enforcement wrongdoing, from the state Attorney General to the District Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Department of Justice, Grand Jury, the Board of Supervisors and others.
“The Board of State and Community Corrections is responsible for regulating our jails. It has 70 pages of regulations that the sheriff’s office needs to comply with,” he said.
He also described 14 examples of significant new oversight-related legislation, including bills that cover press access, attorney general review, personnel records and use of force tactics and policies.
“Senate Bill 2 is a sea change. It requires the sheriff to hire only certified officers, certified by POST (the Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training). It made it easier to sue law enforcement officers for civil rights violations,” Silberman said.
The bill also bars officers with significant misconduct records from POST certification. The bill establishes a new Peace Officer Standards Accountability Office, to be staffed by 32 investigators, which will review and potentially conduct further investigations into serious misconduct within the sheriff’s office, he added.
‘If an institution has shown itself to be far more deadly towards certain groups within the community, our community members are entitled to take a more active role monitoring the actions, outcomes and culture of that institution.’
Akena Okobe, Chinedu Okobe’s sister
A nine-member board appointed by the governor and legislatures includes a majority of public members, including those with a background in police accountability and members who have experienced wrongful use of force, he said. Sheriffs must report all allegations of serious misconduct regardless of the merit under SB2. It requires the sheriff’s office to complete all investigations involving severe misconduct. Previously, there were concerns that sheriff’s offices would not complete investigations on officers who resigned.
Assembly Bill 953, the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 (RIPA), is another sea change in enforcement, Silberman said.
It requires every state and local agency, including the sheriff’s office, that employs peace officers to annually report detailed data on all stops made by peace officers, covering demographics of those stopped and specifics of the encounters. The information, which is also made public, includes the location, perceived race, gender, LGBTQ status, age, language proficiency, and disability status, along with the reasons for and outcomes of the stop, he said.
A path forward, but different visions on how to get there
Corpus pointed to reforms she has made to change the culture within the sheriff’s office and build community relationships. She created a behavioral health unit in the jail and a swim club on the coast. The club has taught 80 children to swim after two farmworkers drowned.
In January, Corpus formed the Community Advisors for Responsible Engagement program (CARES), which holds advisory forums in North County, South County and Coastside. Sheriff’s office leadership meets with residents, community organizations and small businesses to discuss ideas and develop solutions.
Corpus said at least a handful of deputies told her they would leave immediately if a civilian oversight board were created.
“Some are concerned about subpoena power. I’ve had some tell me that they’re concerned that if they want to go get help – mental health services – that would stop them from doing it because they don’t want (their) information to be put out there,” Corpus said. “Not because we’re trying to hide anything, but because it takes a lot of pride for somebody to ask for help, especially when you’re an enforcement officer, and you go through a lot of – you see a lot of tragedy.”
The department is short-staffed by 96 deputies. Many on the force are feeling burnout from the overtime, long-distance travel and long hours away from their families, she said.
Representatives from sheriffs’ organizations agreed.
“We’re barely making it to run the jail, to run the courts, to have deputies on the streets. And the way we’re doing it is on the backs of the men and women of the sheriff’s office and their backs are broken. They’re waving the white flag. They can’t sustain this. So on top of all these issues, community oversight or civilian oversight on top of that, it’s going to be a disaster,” said Deputy Carlos Tapia, president of the Deputy Sheriffs Association.
Sgt. Hector Acosta, a representative of the Organization of Sheriffs’ Sergeants, said deputies have told him that if oversight comes to San Mateo County, they will leave and go to other agencies.
“What civilian oversight would do is have a snowball effect,” he said.
Millbrae resident Michael Kelly noted that Corpus has only been on the job for 10 months out of a 72-month term. He wanted the supervisors to hold off on an oversight committee and allow an iterative process to refine the changes over time. Then, perhaps in a few years, the sheriff might be open to an oversight body if needed.
Supervisor Warren Slocum said he is not in favor of giving a civilian board subpoena power. He was certainly not in favor of spending $3.5 million nor funding civilian board members $500 per day, he added.
“Subpoena power would come from the board and in collaboration with the county attorney and the county executive, and if a subpoena was needed, that’s the way it would come forward,” he said.
Slocum suggested that the board create a sheriff oversight committee comprising a subset of supervisors working with the sheriff on matters regularly. A separate civilian advisory body would facilitate public safety, transparency, accountability and community engagement. They could hold public meetings and do outreach, provide feedback, submit reports and make recommendations and perhaps produce an annual report.
He proposed creating a nine-member civilian advisory body with appointments shared among the Board of Supervisors, the sheriff, the county executive and other officials. This group, aided by a staff liaison and including sheriff’s office and county attorney representation, would not engage in personnel or disciplinary matters, nor would it conduct investigations or make referrals on issues currently under investigation.
The county executive, on their initiative or at the direction of the board of supervisors, could deal with the question of an as-needed inspector general with whom the county might enter into a contract, he said.
The supervisors didn’t vote on his proposal, but they concurred that it sounded promising. They directed city staff to return with ideas for how the two bodies would function.
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