San Mateo County Sheriff Carlos Bolaños, who has more than 40 years of experience, will run Tuesday against challenger Christina Corpus, who has worked in the sheriff's office for 22 years along with Bolaños, both of whom are running for the sheriff's post.
Carlos Bolaños, the current county sheriff, says he is running to continue the work he started in that position, while acknowledging that there is still more work to be done.
Its objectives include building community relationships, reducing recidivism, building trust, and responding to recruitment and retention challenges within the sheriff's office.
A Bay Area native, Bolaños has worked in law enforcement for more than 40 years, beginning as a patrol officer with the Palo Alto Police Department in 1979.
Since then, he has worked as a detective, sergeant, lieutenant, police captain and police chief in Palo Alto, Salinas and Redwood City before becoming undersheriff and then sheriff of San Mateo County in 2016.
According to its website, www.bolanosforsheriff.comBolaños believes in the philosophy of community policing.
As Redwood City's chief of police, he initiated the Redwood City Police Activities League program, known as PAL, which offers various activities and cultural programs to promote life skills and personal development for young people.
During his time as San Mateo County Sheriff, the Sheriff's Activities League, or SAL, founded in 1997, continued to expand.
Christina Corpus says on her website, www.christinacorpus.comShe is ready to lead the office into the future and is "capable of meeting the challenge of public safety in the 21st century".
Its goals include hiring more people of color through mentoring programs, reducing recidivism through data-driven programs, and preventing practices such as turning people over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for minor offenses.
A woman of Latino descent, she began her career in law enforcement as a caseworker in the county district attorney's office in 1995. Since then, she has served as a correctional officer, deputy sheriff, sergeant, lieutenant and captain.
As a sergeant in the sheriff's Office of Professional Standards, he developed a boot camp for female law enforcement officers to help orient women and prepare them for the physical requirements of law enforcement.
He also, he said, plans to improve the way officers respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis, change the office's policy regarding the use of Tasers, create a community advisory board to receive input from underserved communities and other stakeholders, as well as ensure that gun permits are not issued for political gain.
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