Law Enforcement Mutual Aid is coordinated at the Operational Area level by the Sheriff. All local requests for Law Enforcement Mutual Aid must be coordinated through the Operational Area Coordinator (Sheriff) or the Sheriff’s designee. This includes request for out-of- county law enforcement resources to be used in the Operational Area. Law Enforcement Mutual Aid may be exercised in different ways. The most common one is the day-to-day assistance freely offered between agencies engaged in the prevention of criminal activity and in the apprehension of criminal offenders. These Mutual Aid resources are also activated regularly, for example, to assist in Search and Rescue missions or to provide air support to patrol officers. Less common, but equally important, are the responses to civil disorders and disasters.
The state of California is divided into seven law enforcement mutual aid regions, all coordinated by the Governor’s Office of Emergence Services. Santa Clara County is located in Region 2, which is the coastal region. When any agency in Santa Clara County needs a mutual aid resource, they should contact the Sheriff’s Department Mutual Aid Coordinator. If the resources within this area are insufficient, the Mutual Aid Coordinator will contact the Region 2 Coordinator, which is the Alameda County Sheriff Department. The Region 2 Coordinator would then advise the State OES Warning Center of any further needs, which would then be transmitted to the State OES Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Coordinator.