Christina Corpus and Carlos Bolaños, once close colleagues and possibly even friends, are now antagonistic candidates for San Mateo County Sheriff. Who are they and what are they proposing?
Corpus is the current chief of police in Millbrae. Bolaños is the sheriff of San Mateo County. Both, children of Latin American migrants, participated in a debate organized in Redwood City by the League of Women Voters of San Mateo County on April 27, which Peninsula 360 Press helped produce. The most controversial topic of the event was the involvement of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with the Sheriff's Office in the county.
Bolaños' proposals
The candidate proposed the creation of a civilian supervision model, in addition to an external audit. He assured that he is working to increase the number of elements with adequate training to better face insecurity.
He offered to create a program to ensure that the incarcerated population has every opportunity to succeed upon release from prison. In this regard, Bolaños added that his priorities are to build strong community relations and also implement effective programs to reduce recidivism.
He also stated that more use would be made of technology to improve public safety and build trust through transparency, safety and the welfare of the officer corps.
Corpus Proposals
Corpus spoke of a change in the delivery of security in San Mateo County, where she has held command positions as Lieutenant, Commander, Captain and Chief. She said there is a lack of personnel and attributed it to a toxic work environment.
Corpus proposes, in a manner similar to Bolaños, civilian oversight, community policing, as well as improving relations with the migrant community.
The candidate said that, if she won, she would increase mental health services, address the use of taser weapons, without specifying exactly what she was referring to but let's say open a dialogue about it, decrease the excessive use of force and prioritize equity and safety with permits and concealed carry weapons.
ICE To cooperate or not to cooperate?
Corpus denounced that the sheriff's office has collaborated with ICE since 2016. He said, ?the only way I would collaborate (with ICE) would be if there was an imminent danger to the community, because as sheriff you have to protect communities, this would be a very thoughtful decision.
It is striking that Corpus said, on the one hand, that she had felt very hurt by the separation of families due to Bolaños' cooperation with ICE and, on the other hand, she commented that, if she won the race, she would not completely cancel such cooperation with ICE but would do so in specific cases where "the safety of the county's population would be put at risk".
In this regard, Bolaños expressed: "it is true, I collaborated with ICE within the framework of Senate Bill 54 in relation to serious and violent criminals, but after attending three Truth Forums, none of which my opponent [referring to Corpus] attended, I came to my senses by listening to the community".
The candidate added that after those forums, he realized that ICE's involvement undermined trust with the community, and therefore, he pledged that he would not cooperate under any circumstances with ICE. I am not going to play the selective case game, if there is a serious and violent case ICE can act through a warrant and arrest these individuals," he said.
Trajectories
It should be recognized that the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, under the direction of Bolaños and with the participation of Corpus, has been able to build a good relationship with the Latino communities in the area, especially through social programs in which local community organizations participate.
It should also be noted that in aspects of security, San Mateo County does not have the level of decay that we see in San Francisco or Santa Clara, to give two examples. However, the involvement of the Sheriff's Office with ICE is a disgrace and should not be repeated. Bolaños acknowledges the mistake and assures that "under no circumstances" will it happen again. Corpus, paradoxically, criticizes the link with ICE but leaves the door open to work with them in "specific cases", which is worrisome because it could result in something very similar to what we have already experienced.
Therefore, whoever wins, as a community we must follow up on the campaign promises of each candidate to ensure that they are fulfilled. In addition, we must be very firm that ICE's participation must be rejected in its entirety.
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