BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, who is facing the prospect of removal from office due to alleged corruption and calls to resign from her own deputies, had some of her employees take part in a three-day training session to “regulate emotions” and “manage stress.”
Last week, supervisors and managers from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office participated in a seminar with $14,000 trainers, according to spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker.
The training program was provided by RITE Academy, which focuses on building “resilience” within organizations and enhancing officers’ communication skills, according to its website.
Each instructor was paid a flat fee of $14,000 for the three days of training. The cost of the hotels, travel, flights, rental car and incidentals was a flat fee of $7,760.
The Sheriff’s Office did not answer any further questions, like how many trainers there were or where the training took place.
Tense times in the Sheriff’s Office
The sheriff is facing removal from office on two fronts. The Board of Supervisors put a ballot measure before the voters in March to give them the power to remove the sheriff. The measure passed overwhelmingly and now the board has voted to fire her. However, she’s allowed to appeal at a multi-day hearing starting Aug. 18. Separately, the county civil grand jury has voted to recommend her removal from office, and Corpus will stand trial on the jury’s charges.
In both efforts to remove Corpus, the allegations are roughly the same — she’s accused of hiring her boyfriend and giving him authority over the sheriff’s office. Both deny they’re having an affair. She’s also accused of retaliation, intimidation, conflicts of interest and making racial and homophobic slurs.
Her own officers from all ranks of the department have said publicly they can no longer support her.
Self-awareness
Officers learned how to be more self-aware, regulate their emotions, manage stress, de-escalate high-pressure situations and be more communicative, according to Spiker.
There was also a two-day training session for 10 Sheriff’s Office personnel to train them on how to help others benefit from the skills they learned, Spiker said. The training will also reduce the future cost of external trainers.
Spending questioned
This is the latest expense for Corpus, who has been questioned by the Board of Supervisors over her spending.
Corpus has spent $13,340 on two massage chairs, which she tried to pass off the cost of at least one to the San Carlos bureau, according to emails obtained by the Post using the California Public Records Act.
In March, the Post reported that Corpus purchased two soft-serve ice cream machines for employees in the county jails.
In January, the Post reported that she had purchased a $74,000 conference room table. The 22-foot by 10-foot table includes 12 “cooling fans” in the legs and 10 “lockable access doors.”
At the time, Supervisor David Canepa said it may be the most expensive table in the history of San Mateo County.
Corpus also signed a $35,687 monthly lease in August 2023 to convert a building at 690 Broadway in Redwood City into a daycare and substation. But the plans were halted a year later, and the building remains vacant.
This nonsense has to stop. She is on a personal mission to Bankrupt the County! Her reckless and stupid spending should be paid back out of her pocket. She is completely OUT OF CONTROL!!!
There would need to be a lot of “resilience-building” to survive working in that environment.
The training was held at the Coyote Point Training Center and the total cost of the sessions was $60,000. Participation was mandatory and during the classes, participants were required to engage in preschool-age activities like shaking out their frustrations and selecting their emotional position on a ladder. Believe me when I say, no amount of “shaking” is going to relieve the frustration felt by the hardworking men and women who have continued to persevere under this failed administration.
To call this a waste of money is an understatement. The employees who were required to attend were shocked by the instructors’ (there were two of them) lack of knowledge about the current goings-on at the Sheriff’s Office (apparently they did not do ANY homework about the agency they were hoping to train…hoping, but failed) and their response, which consisted of something along the lines of, “Can’t we all just get along?” Meanwhile, the trainers expected the employees to engage in activities that were more appropriate for preschool-age children, not adults tasked with serving and protecting the safety of the communities they serve.
Did Christy miss the mark on this one? Absolutely. And once again, she wasted taxpayer money on an exercise that was fruitless, at best, and offensive at worst. Time for Christy to go.
If anyone needs to attend these seminars … it’s Corpus. The stress she had been experiencing over the past months, has to be overwhelming. But then, her on-going behavior suggests she has no feelings!
The massage chairs are like orgasmatrons in a Woody Allen movie. They might be in there now, with a soft-serve chaser instead of a cigarette.
I must have missed the RFP (Request for Proposals) for that project; unless one was never issued. In checking the SMCSO website, RFP page, the most recent RFP listed is dated November 2023. The County Executive’s Procurement website has several listed the SMCSO, ones that are not listed on Sheriff’s page, yet nothing close to the “stress management” one described in this article there either. I thought San Mateo County had ethical procurement and purchasing standards, as well as requirements for all county purchases?
In checking the RITE Academy website, I did not see any courses specifically about dealing with stressors for employees working for a corrupt elected official and her cronies. I did see that the RITE Academy is a “Woman-Owned Small Business.” There is that gender-specific thing again.
I see that the trainers featured on the RITE Academy website are all men and women of color; nothing wrong with that. I also noted that the RITE Academy website describes the process of becoming a trainer, “As a RITE Team Trainer, you qualify to teach other agency’s in your county, or contracted by RITE Academy. Contact us if you meet the 3 standards above [1. Take the 2-day RITE Train-the-Trainer Program (only taught by RITE founders); 2. Teach RITE Classes to your designated agency – teaching a minimum of 3 classes; 3. Get your RITE post-training surveys completed by your students – Must receive an 80% or above approval rating], and would like to join to the Team.” Sounds kinda’ like a training pyramid scheme of sorts; pay for training from us then contract to teach for us.
No where on the RITE Academy website are the trainings or trainers described as California Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), nor California Standards and Training for Corrections (STC), certified. No mention of POST or STC at all that I could find. So much for California recognized continuing professional training, and any potential benefits of reimbursements of training funds to SMCSO or the County for those training expenditures.
A pretty consistent pattern of behaviors from the Corpus Cartel.
Absolutely laughable…if Corpus cared one bit about her “people,” she would resign. She is responsible for the stress her agency has experienced for the past two years. Pack your trash and hit the road Christina. You’re nothing but a delusional loser!!
Had no idea. Not offered to all supervisors and managers. I guess only to the individuals within the Corpus Cartel.
If she wants to reduce workplace stress in the Sheriff’s Office there is a simple, inexpensive way to achieve that: Resign.
If Corpus truly wants to reduce stress among staff at the Sheriff’s Office, she only needs to resign. Even better, give Perea and Sergio their walking papers to save the next Sheriff the trouble, and scrape Victor’s name off of his former office door on the way out.
Stress management used to mean getting a good workout in the gym. She has turned that office into a woke ideology and the county residents will be paying the price in law suits. As a
Former Deputy myself I witnessed the decline of the office which started back in 2008.
Since she’s been fired, the supervisors should take Corpus’ spending authority away from her. Or at least require every expenditure get approval from the county finance office. While her appeal is pending, she shouldn’t have a county checkbook on her desk. If they don’t take it away, she’s going to bankrupt it on stupid stuff like these seminars.
I know people are usually pretty confused and have a hard time securing and establishing facts. But when was she fired? Because as I understand fired, it means you no longer have a job which in turn means. You don’t show up to work anymore. Have things changed?
The Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to fire her on June 24. She is appealing the decision and will remain in office until they decide on her appeal. Jim, this was in all the papers. Do you read the news?
Let’s further clarify. The only way to FIRE a Sheriff is through a recall (which couldn’t be until 2026) or someone like the Attorney General or Governor to do their job… Since those haven’t happened…
The Board of Supervisors enacted Measure A and “STARTED” the process in JUNE 2025 which takes a 10 day trial (August 19-29, 2025) and the “re-voting” to officially “fire” the Sheriff… so, yes read the news!
In the meantime, Corpus has filed a Federal lawsuit hearing 8/7 and a San Mateo Superior Court appeal 8/6 on Measure A to try and stop it. Followed closely behind by a Superior Court hearing 9/10… Corpus also thinks she can publicly defame people and speak her opinion on the Board of Supervisors yet she doesn’t think freedom of speech apply to anyone else so she is also trying to say Corzo and Mueller are biased for speaking out against her when they were faced with misconduct information.
Once you stop supporting the Sheriff (according to Corpus) you are not a modern reformer or you are just biased, part of a gang, politicly motivated group, or should just be placed on admin leave or fired or… perhaps even arrested for changing how you do a timecard.
We all hope next week Corpus is told to get lost by the Courts and that they clarify San Mateo County is a Charter County and that the voter have legally enacted Measure A. After Corpus spends more millions in legal fees to be told how to read California Charter County laws… and ballot measure law.
You will keep waking up barfing Corpus until you retire. I have heard GI issues in jail are worse.
The notion of wellness, insofar as California Peace Officers are concerned, needs to bear in mind the Peace Officer Candidate Selection Standards described in the Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) requirements. POST requires every California peace officer to be, “Of good moral character, as determined by a thorough background investigation” and “Found to be free from any physical, emotional, or mental condition, including bias against race or ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, disability, or sexual orientation, which might adversely affect the exercise of the powers of a peace officer” (POST Administrative Manual, Government Code §1031(d), §1031(f)).
Apparently unbeknownst to Corpus, POST has an Organizational Wellness Program designed to assist law enforcement agencies with developing strategies to help their sworn and professional staff thrive in their personal and professional lives. POST’s offerings include opportunities to attend an “Organizational Wellness Coordinator Course” (developed in partnership with the University of California San Diego Centers for Integrative Health). That course provides evidence-based health and wellness concepts packaged for the law enforcement community. POST represents that the course trains agency wellness teams on ways to combine proactive strategies with response-based programs to foster a culture of wellness throughout their organizations.
POST also offers management studies at the request of the agency executive, and provides executive seminars. These are options. options that training units recommend and agency executives routinely consider. Of course knowledge of POST, and its training options, are apparently not something Corpus has or, in which Corpus has any interest.
Moving back to the POST requirements quoted above, the Board of Supervisors (BOS) could take their three investigative reports and obtain a professional opinion of a qualified, licensed, and experienced psychologist or psychiatrist to ascertain if Corpus meets the minimum POST requirements to maintain her peace officer standing and status. The BOS could compel Corpus to attend such an interview. The BOS could ask the court, in virtually any matter presently before the courts, to compel Corpus’ attendance at such an interview. Perhaps that can just be a back up plan of sorts for the BOS.
Gretchen Spiker, where are you?
Why have you stopped publicity spinning for VicTina?
Why have you been so quiet?