Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department

This place is horrible. U have to sit and wait forever while the workers there just talk away with each other… Horrible …

The Sheriff’s office has always been corrupt. They are nothing more than a revenue generator.
You see them hiding behind columns or just around a bend in the road. Not visible in case some one needs help, of course not. Like I said. They are interested in one thing and only one thing: writing tickets.
The sheriff’s office is a waste of taxpayer dollars. They are nothing more than extorting con artists, who will lie to you. In fact, they can legally lie to you. Great justice system we have here.
The worst part about the Sheriff is, they will pull you over for any thing. Everyone is a criminal to these people. They absolutely disgust me. They are sharks, predators, lying in wait for their next victim. Moving violation tickets don’t keep us safe. They are simply a way to generate revenue.
And the DUI checkpoints are ridiculous. I don’t know how they were ruled constitutional. You’re being pulled over for absolutely no reason. Being «pulled over» is actually considered being detained. So, they will detain you for no reason other than you’re driving during a time that a lot of drunk people are leaving the bars. If you don’t have probable cause, you’re not supposed to be able to pull over people. That’s a law. But the sheriff’s office is, again, more concerned with CompStat rankings than your safety.

San Jose Water just confirmed my neighbor is hooked up to my watering system and has probably been stealing water from me for decades. My neighbor also had over ten leaks from my pipes and valves on my property which he was using without my permission, a criminal misdemeanor. The leaked water also was causing a mini-​marsh on my property, a form of vandalism. Because California is in a drought, wasting water is a criminal offense. So what does the sheriff’s department do? Attempt to arrest me when I attempt to divert the leaked water back onto the neighbor’s property after the neighbor had refused to correct the problem for over a year. But yeah, my neighbor is a wealthy white male and I am just a poor widow so of course, I must be in the wrong.

What a total waste of taxpayers money these guys (deputy’s) are nothing but a bunch of bullies and juditial gang bangers, and what’s with the Sheriff Laurie Smith? They have a great web site advertising to not re-​elect her, and some trash talk about her and pedophiles… Awesome! I have never had a positive experience with dealing with the sheriff’s, they strong arm the public, herass us like they are the KGB of America, making us feel like criminals. They can’t even do their job the way it’s supposed to be done, and go after real bad guy’s. They suck! Just saying!

I went here to get my finger print scanned. The lady was nice and I didn’t have to wait long because you have to make an appointment beforehand. I was in and out in no time. :)

If only Unilocal offered a 0-​star option…
I live in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara county, so the sheriff is our local law enforcement. I’ve never had any interaction with them before today, so I didn’t have an opinion one way or the other. That’s definitely changed now — much for the worse.
I went in to the sheriff’s office to discuss a situation that doesn’t involve me directly, but looks like it could easily spiral out of control. And, it seems to me that a few minutes work by the sheriff now would almost certainly diffuse the situation. The officer I talked to was obviously only interested in making me go away as quickly as possible. To make matters worse, he was a snotty and obnoxious jerk. Where do they find people like this?
Anyways, I just don’t get it. So much for trying to do a good deed…

I went in for a police case report (clueless of where i needed to go). I went to the court house first, they where closed, the officers working there told me to come here and i should be able to get what i was looking for. I came here (easy to find) and i had to grab a number and wait, there was not a lot of people so i was helped quickly. The lady behind the window called the numbers super quick (people just looked at their numbers confused). I went to the window, she had a bit of an attitude, but managed to help me. She then told me «I want you to be in the right place» and gave me the correct address and information i needed to obtain the documents i was looking for.

Great fingerprinting service! I didn’t have to wait, and it was only $ 20. Much better than the private place I went to before. The staff was also very nice and courteous, and parking was very easy (the department has free visitor spaces).

Saratoga hired the county sherriff’s dept several years ago and is now in the business of collecting money from moving violations that are being handed out senselessly.
The Sheriff’s departments cars, SUV’s and motorcycles are never to be seen in bad weather or during the rush hour when the hazards or the highest or when the speed and other violations on roads like Quito are their heaviest. Instead these guys have plush jobs lying in wait during the fair weather daytimes and give tickets to senior citizens and housewives on their way to the local store or to take Johnny to the doctor.
I got a moving violation for getting into the bike lane a hundred feet too early in order to make a right turn off of Saratoga onto Cox and normal traffic lanes were full due to holiday traffic. There were no bicycles anywhere close to this lane at the time and I proceeded very slowly in case of any opening car doors or lane changes. Admittedly I took a shortcut I should not have taken but there was no risk or accident or injury as result nor was there a threat of one. The motorcycle cop involved also pulled another older woman who had also the same thing and gave us both moving violation tickets.
For minor offenses like this giving out ticketed moving violations carrying all the heavy artillery behind them, is unfair punishment and is inappropriate when a simple warning would have more than sufficed. But then again there would have been less revenue for the coffers of Saratoga and the Sheriff’s Office.
Since I got a little hot under the collar about this injustice the motorcycle cop giving me the ticket called out two SUV’s with staffed with officers as backup as he wroteup the tickets. Hello, I am 72 years old and about 120# and had no weapon of any kind. I wonder how much this useless act cost the tax payers.
I have watched this situation for many years now and I see Sheriff’s vehicles hanging out on Saratoga’s streets on a regular basis in «speed trap» like fashion just waiting for someone to make a mistake. They do this on week day mornings and afternoons and are never to be seen during the rush hour traffic when the majority of unsafe violations are being made..
This is not good public relations for the City of Saratoga nor the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department nor law enforcement in general. This mode of operation creates disrespect for law enforcement among responsible citizens, and is now doing so at a time when respect for law enforcement is badly needed for offenses that endangers public safety.

So I committed a crime ten years ago. I’ve been clean and sober since. And now I’m married and have a girl.
Four cops yesterday in full suit stopped by my house. They commandeered my house as if it belonged to them. Scared my daughter and pissed off my wife. My eight year old daughter is now talking about running away and eating food from trash.
Their reason for the investigation? To see if I had a locked up kid.
So now, they’ve achieved the bad news they wanted to get, in a sense.
C’mon folks. Former criminals deserve justice too, and dignity. Yes, dignity. All humans deserve dignity as being members of humanity. And kids deserve more respect in their safe havens.
The guys were otherwise polite and kind.

I can’t help but laugh at these reviews… everyone of them breaking some sort of law and pissed off because they got caught. TOO FUNNY!!!

This is for deputy Gordon of the south county sheriff department. I have had a very hostile abusive divorce and custody situation where my ex has left our son with other people when he was supposed to have him and lied to me about it. He has also «lost track» of our 4 year old son on his 3 acre property and my son has ended up injured. In 3 years in have called the sheriff office a total of 2 times for a welfare check and both times lovely deputy Gordon was assigned to the call. Thankfully everything was fine but she proxeesed to call me back with the normal status update on the second call and had totally passed judgement without knowing any of the history and proceeded to scold me for calling them and I better «really» know that there is something wrong before calling them. I was floored to be judged and condemed by this deputy who knew nothing of the back story. I thought protect and serve was for everyone. I don’t take my sons safety lightly. Obviously she prefers that I did.

61 year’s old woman ! they need better psych evaluation program for these police1993 William Alfred Connor arrested for burglary San Luis Obispo County sheriffs hire daughter with major psychological issues. they hire anyone with a clean record maybe they just got away with it. now the rest of us have to pay !

You run into an accident, and if nobody is hurt, they dont show up. They are eagerly waiting for seatbelt ticket in the cupertino area because nobody seems to violate any other traffic law and they need to keep the money flowing to avoid getting fired.
It almost seems like they have nothing better to do than badgering ppl with seatbelt law.

Having higher education standards than the local police department results in a 5 star review from me. I worked on site at a county owned property for a year and more than once we called the Sheriff for help with removing wanted felons and stolen/​abandoned vehicles from the property. I’ve also had positive experiences doing eviction lock-​outs with at least a dozen different deputies – all of them polite and professional, never hostile like the SJPD.

Just got pulled over by Sheriff REYES, myself! I never had stood a chance …
That fool swore that I was speeding, ran two red lights & was swerving through the middle (turning) lane, because the jackass in front of me was going 5mph.
REYES claimed to have it all on video & that he could’ve impounded my car — had he chose to. Either way, the dude was a dick from the moment he pulled me over. He asked me REPEATEDLY if I was okay to drive & threatened me a breatholyzer test.
It was 2am & I’m new to the area, but my driving wasn’t THAT bad!
He «cut me a great deal of slack,» by issuing me a single-​point traffic infraction (instead of popping me with multiple misdeamors) & having me «walk home.»
Gee … «Thank you, Officer for the leniency.»
NOTE TO REYES: NOT EVERYONE THAT YOU PULL OVER IS A EASY-​SIDE GANG-​BANGER! SOME OF US ARE RESPECTFUL CITIZENS!!!
(2 stars because he didn’t impound my baby & «downgraded» my citation)

I have a healthy respect for my local LEOs (SFPD) but I can’t get down with these Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Dept clowns. I have absolutely no respect for these power drunken a-​holes. My 7 years of driving experience with them while I was living in the south bay has been limited to cold stares and receiving tickets. They’re never the ones to respond to calls but the 1^st to hassle and cite you when they decide that they don’t like you. The deputies are rude, arrogant and do not possess the ability to exercise any modicum of judgement (Hi Deputy Reyes!). Quite arguably worse than the TSA. I can’t believe these fools are in a position of power…
Revenue over all else, right SCCSD?! Get that quota filled? Ready… GO!

I must say my recent trip to santa clara county was uneventful, except for getting pulled over, and searched by five police cars and 12 officers.
I must say, I would have given a higher star rating to their search, but they did hide my wallet under the floorboard, and re arrage my backpack (i do have to admire a trickster though)
It was also 45 degrees outside, and it was chilly…
When asked why I was pulled over, they said I ran a stop sign, I didn’t, and said so, and then they said, you stopped a foot past the stop line…
hmmm…
so, when you are on highway 17, be ready for the greeting from eager, and probably from out of state patrollers.
In all, I didn’t get a ticket, but was almost late for my dj set…

I’m hoping that I placing this in the right category, but reading other reviewers it seem like that I am since both incidents happened in the City of Mountain View about 6−7yrs ago and I believe the jurisdiction is considered to be within the Santa Clara County.
My first incident was on a Saturday early afternoon coming back from Subway, which I was doing a take out for my boyfriend (now my hubby) and I for lunch. I was driving on W Middlefield towards Moffet Blvd and then, as I got into the left turning lane is when I noticed a Sheriff officer who by coincidentally pulled behind me to also make the same left turn onto Moffet Blvd heading towards Cyprus Point Blvd.
In general, I get VERY nervous whenever there is a cop behind my tail. I’m just self concious like that.
As I made another left turn heading towards Cyprus Point Blvd to get back to my Apt is when I heard the siren go off and I pulled over to my right. Because I’ve never been pulled over in my life at the time I wasn’t sure what to do so seeing in TV’s and movies — I placed both of my hands up until I got further instructions. The Sheriff came over and asked for my driver’s license and insurance, which he went back to his patrol car to check me out. He returned and asked me if I knew why I got pulled over? Since I knew I wasn’t speeding I was like, «No?» It turned out that my passenger’s side right tailgate light was out so he wanted me to get that fixed asap, which I did. The sheriff also wanted me step out of my car so he can show me where and by then I was completely «nervous» that I actually tripped over my own two feet. Rofl Anways, I was let go by a warning.
My 2^nd incident, I was pulled over yet AGAIN with the same exact Sheriff officer. My mother in-​law thought maybe this guy liked me or something. We had a good laugh over this, but even till this day, my mother in-​law still thinks that I shouldn’t have gotten pulled over, but instead she should have been the one to get pulled over since she was the one who did a «Criss cross» while making a left turn from Moffet Blvd onto Central Expy heading towards Sunnyvale.
What happened was that, my mother in-​law along with my brother and sister in-​law were all kind in commuting over 4hrs just to come up to the Bay Area to help my hubby who had to work that day and I out in moving from our old Apt in Mountain View to our current Apt in Sunnyvale. It was our last trip of the day when I was the leader and my mother in-​law who was driving my father in-law’s big truck with loads of furniture was directly right behind me, but had to drive under speed so I figured I would go slow too even though the speed limit from Moffet Blvd making a left turn onto Central Expy was 45 mph and increased up to 50 mph.
As I usually make a left turn, I always stay in the inner left lane because I know that «criss crossing» is illegal due to the strict Driver’s Education my own father enrolled me in right after I graduated from high school. My teacher was a retired, but very strict Military figure, but also who was halirious (always cracked jokes). When my mother in-​law made that same left turn, instead of staying in the inner left lane like I did, she «criss crossed between both lanes of left/​right and I’ve seen other trucks do this in being able to make a left/​right turn in general.
As I already made a turn, instead of driving 45 mph normally I was going about 10 – 15 mph on Central Expy heading towards Sunnyvale so that my mother in-​law doesn’t loose me and doesn’t get lost since she’s not from here. Behind my mother in-​law, I noticed a Sheriff making a left turn also and I was like, «Oh no!!»
Before I knew it, the Sheriff pulled me over when I didn’t do anything wrong so I pulled over on my right and directly behind the Sheriff is when my mother in-​law pulled over too. And then, the Sheriff put me and my mother in-​law together by saying, «Oh, so you two are together?» I said, «Yes. My mother in-​law is helping me move today and she was kind to come up from the Central Valley. When she made that left turn back there she was going slower than the actual speed plus she’s not around here therefore I didn’t want to travel 45mph by loosing one another.» Then, I realized, «This was the same guy who pulled me over not too long ago and became uncomfortable.»
The Sheriff then told me that I had «criss crossed» with my mother in-​law when I did no such thing. Like I said from the beginning, my mother in-​law still brings this up whenever we are making a left turn and/​or if we see a Sheriff in the Country we’re we are from (Central Valley). She still believes that I shouldn’t have gotten pulled over that day and she wished that she had gotten pulled over instead. Next time we bump into a traffic police officer she or I are planning on asking him/​her to explain rather I was at fault or rather it was my mother in-​law fault or both of us at fault? The Sheriff let us go with a warning.

I can’t remember the last time a group of people were so feared for having nothing to do and thus cracking down in every which way possible that can be done. They’re like terrorists, they know that they have jurisdiction everywhere, on the freeway, on a local street, in your neighborhood … they know that they can ticket you for just about anything from public urination to speeding and «vandalism» by putting a sticker onto a pole to burning out in the parking lot.
Rest assured whenever you’re doing something fun and slightly wrong, or just wrong in general, they’re there ready to handcuff you and arrest you or ticket you as necessary. Who the heck cares if somebody is speeding 5mph over the speed limit at 3 am in the morning if they’re not bothering anyone else since there’s no one else on the street? Who cares if some kids are drinking pearl tea outside of a pearl tea establishment past 10:30 pm? Do you *really* need to go tell them to leave by giving them loitering tickets? Do you *really* need to pull every modded car off the road for driving NEAR Highway 9 in Saratoga just to find a reason to give them a ticket?
I guess this is my ultimate distaste for the ‘system’ and the ‘man’ because no matter what in the end they’re power tripping and out to get you for no good reason other than the fact that they *can* intimidate you, they *will* and they do it gladly because they feel like they have the upper hand. Sad.