‘Baptized by fire’: New San Mateo County sheriff reflects on his first month in office

In her first month on the job, new San Mateo County Sheriff Cristina Corpus, the first woman to hold the post, faced a full year of crises, from floods to mass shootings.

As part of NBC’s Bay Area Women’s History Month, she sat down with the Corps to discuss her challenges, her vision, and the glass ceiling she’s breaking.

The Corps straightened up as it was being sworn in as the chief police district.

“I was so proud to stand in front of everyone as the first female Hispanic sheriff of this county,” she said.

The Corps knows there will be doubters with those first. She has faced them throughout her career.

“Because I am a woman, and I am feminine, and I am not very tall, the challenges, the rejections that I have been given throughout my career have always been a fire for me to fight harder,” she said.

It didn’t take long for the Corps to earn their stars. Everything seems to have happened within the first month of her tenure, including severe flooding that prompted a forced evacuation.

“People say you were baptized by fire,” she said. “In the first month we had an international child abduction. We had a gang-related shootout that took place in Crescent Bay. We had another terrible incident in Crescent Bay.”

Another horrific incident was a mass shooting that killed seven farm workers. Case closed, so the sheriff can’t talk about it.

“I’m so proud of her,” San Mateo County Executive Noelia Corzo, the county’s first Hispanic, said of the Corps. “I am so proud of her and what she represents for our community.”

Korzo said the Corps handled her job with grace, even before she became chief police officer.

“When I first met Christina, she was talking about things that I had never heard from law enforcement in a way that showed she could be vulnerable, but also could make really difficult decisions,” Korzo said.

The Corps has its own vision for police reform and is working on its plan for the department. It all starts with public trust and policing, she says, as she did as an MP in Fair Oaks.

Its other purpose is to inspire.

“I wanted to inspire other women and girls like me that they can do whatever they want and their dreams can come true if they are determined,” she said.

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