When fully staffed, our Investigations Unit consists of an Adult Detective, Juvenile Detective, Narcotics Officer, School Resource Officer, and Detective Sergeant.

Our Adult Detective works the gamut of crimes including homicides, robberies, high technology crimes, financial and identity theft crimes, background investigations, burglaries, vice and sex crimes. Our Adult Detective participates in multi agency investigations and assists other county agencies as needed. Our Adult Detective is also responsible for the recruitment of police officer applicants. Detectives routinely give recruitment presentations at the Evergreen and Gavilan Police Academies.

Our Juvenile Detective is in charge of our DARE program, the Junior Police Academy, and also investigates all crimes involving juveniles including kidnapping, sex crimes, child abuse and molests, criminal gang activity, and burglaries. Our department boasts a well received juvenile diversion program, which allows certain first time juvenile offenders the opportunity to make amends to the community in lieu of being sent directly to Juvenile Probation. Successful completion of diversion results in dismissal of charges against a juvenile offender. This program has been very popular with the community and the criminal justice system.

When staffing allows, a Narcotics Officer is assigned to the Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Task Force (SCCACT). This investigator works narcotics crimes and large scale vehicle thefts throughout the county including surveillance, undercover drug buys, serving search warrants, and working with state and federal narcotics units.

When staffing allows, a School Resource Officer (SRO) is assigned to Scotts Valley High School and works closely with the Juvenile Detective. This officer has many duties such as criminal investigations, traffic control, juvenile diversions, campus security, teaching DARE, and acts as a liaison between school, police, and the community.

Our Detective Sergeant supervises the Investigations Unit, assigns cases as appropriate, coordinates major case investigations, assists with the investigation of major crimes, and assists the other members of the unit as needed.

All of the Detectives work closely with the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office and other law enforcement agencies and associations in Santa Cruz County. Detectives participate in several multi-disciplinary task forces including the Child Death Review Committee, Joint Agency Gang (JAG) Taskforce, the (Elder) Financial Abuse Strike Team (FAST), and the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART).