There should always be checks and balances to every office serving our community.  Law enforcement is given enormous power, and civilian oversight helps to ensure that power is used well.  City police chiefs have a boss, but the sheriff is independently elected with no boss except voters. Independent civilian oversight will bring accountability and transparency.  

In San Mateo County, Department of Justice data show that Black people are 9 times more likely to be arrested than White people, and Hispanic people twice as likely.   People of color are at risk of death from law enforcement.  For example, officers in San Mateo County used tasers to kill 3 unarmed people of color in 2018, and killed an eighteen-year-old young woman in Half Moon Bay in 2014. Despite 19 use-of-force deaths, NO officers in our county have been charged during the tenure of the current District Attorney.

Independent civilian oversight could fundamentally improve policing in the county in these ways:

• Investigate officer misconduct
• Analyze trends in the department’s activities
• Conduct community outreach and hold public meetings to strengthen public trust
• Issue public reports
• Make recommendations about training and policies  

Fixin’ San Mateo County is a local grassroots non-profit in San Mateo County, centered on achieving racial justice by bringing transparency, trust, and fairness to our local Sheriff’s Office. The goal of Fixin’ SMC is to enact an effective and meaningful civilian oversight board and inspector general, both with subpoena power, like other counties in California and nationwide.   Find out more and get involved at https://FixinSMC.org

We're asking the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors to create a Sheriff's Oversight Commission, and we are delivering this petition to the Supervisors. Can you support Fixin' SMC's campaign to create a Sheriff's Oversight Commission by signing this petition.

Fixin' SMC will present the signed petitions to the Board of Supervisors, and we will invite you to participate in that action.

Thank you for signing!