The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office was founded in 1850, making it one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the State of California. There have been twenty seven persons serving in the capacity of Sheriff since 1850.

The Department is divided into 3 major bureaus; Field Operations, Support Services, and Administrative Services. Headed by Undersheriff John Hirokawa, Commander Lindley Zink, Commander Edward Perry, and Director Martha Wapenski.  In 1988 the County created a Department of Correction, so the Sheriff's Office no longer maintains the County Jail system. However, the Sheriff does provide supervisory positions within the Jail as well as staffing the Transportation Unit and Perimeter Patrol.

Currently, the Sheriff's Office has 586 full-time, sworn, badge staff. These positions are broken down as follows:

In addition to the full-time badge staff, the Sheriff's Office has 65 Reserve Deputy Sheriffs. To support the entire operation, the Department employs 223 non-sworn, civilian staff.

There are several specialized units and teams within the Sheriff's Office. These include Community Relations, Canine Unit, Search & Rescue (including Mounted), Dive Team, Traffic/Motorcycles, Off-Road Enforcement Team, Hostage Negotiation Team, SERT (Sheriff's Emergency Response Team), Crowd Control Unit, Intelligence/Vice and Bomb Squad. The Sheriff's Office hosts or participates in several joint-agency task forces.

Watch for future enhancements to this area, which will include historical facts about the Sheriff's Office and photos of personnel and equipment.