Sheriff Jim Hart

Sheriff Jim Hart is the three-term elected Sheriff-Coroner in Santa Cruz County. Sheriff Hart has been instrumental in several key initiatives including establishing a recovery center, creating a drone program, implementing Police Executive Research Forum’s ICAT training program throughout the agency and was an early adopter of the 21st Century Policing model. He also formed a Focused Intervention Team (FIT), composed of law enforcement professionals and mental health clinicians, dedicated to addressing the needs of high-frequency users of police, fire, and medical services.

More recently, Sheriff Hart secured funding to construct a state-of-the-art DNA laboratory on the SCSO campus. The laboratory is currently under construction and is expected to be staffed and fully operational by 2026.

Mission

Our mission is to ensure public safety in Santa Cruz County.  We accomplish this through open communication and collaboration with our community as well as continuous professional development of staff to address crime and promote innovative corrections solutions

Vision

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office has a proud history of aggressively attacking crime in a proactive and timely manner. We strive to maintain the highest standards of professional ethics and personal integrity, and we are committed to the proper treatment of those in custody. We are also committed to developing and applying community-based policing and problem-solving techniques. To this end, we augment our use of time-tested police and corrections methods with innovative approaches to community protection and involvement.