Full Notification

Under State and Federal Freedom of Information Laws, law enforcement agencies are required to keep a record of daily activities that can be inspected by the public. Local newspapers typically review these records, referred to as Police Blotters.

In 2017, the City of Santa Clara Communications Center fielded 167,821 phone calls. Of these, 76,319 resulted in police calls for service (53,865 Police calls for service; 22,454 police officer self-initiated activity) and 10,097 in fire calls for service. As a result, 14,562 police reports were processed and 4,658 arrests were made.
SCPD’s Police Blotter highlights a partial list of incidents in Santa Clara and is distributed to the press on a weekly basis.

What types of incidents are generally included in the Police Blotter?
• Routine and unusual calls for service;
• Incidents that may raise awareness and/or educate the public;
• Similar calls for service taking place with frequency, targeting a specific population and/or occurring in a particular area; and,
• When SCPD is seeking the public’s assistance to solve a crime.

Why aren’t certain calls for service included in the Police Blotter?
The U.S. Department of Justice cites several reasons why some information may be excluded from a Police Blotter, including:
• Deprives a person to their right of a fair trial;
• Hampers an ongoing investigation;
• Hinders prosecution;
• Places an officer or witness in danger; and,
• Constitutes an invasion of privacy.

In general, it is SCPD’s practice not to include sensitive items such as juvenile arrests, incidents of domestic violence, suicide, calls connected with a restraining order or custody of a juvenile and/or dead bodies.

SCPD partners with CrimeReports to offer a free online crime alerting and mapping service. This neighborhood crime data is available in near real-time.

In addition, SCPD maintains a chronological list of individuals arrested in the Arrest Log. The Arrest Log is published daily and available on the Police Department's website at www.scpd.org.