The Santa Clara Police Department plays an active role in keeping our schools safe.

School Services Unit

The School Services Unit provides an "immediate response" to the schools where an incident involving drugs, alcohol or tobacco use, gang activity, truancy, weapons, vandalism, theft, or violence has occurred on campus. The School Services Unit is also responsible for the Neighborhood Accountability Board, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, the Adult Crossing Guard program, and the School Safety Patrol program. Additionally, the School Services Unit also offers support to teachers and parents.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education
The D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program is part of our School Services Unit, which is made up of four police officers who serve as D.A.R.E./School Resource Officers and School Beat Officers. A Sergeant supervises the unit. These officers are specially trained to deal with school-related incidents. Every day they interact with Santa Clara Unified School District officials, school principals, teachers, staff, parents, and most importantly, the students.

The Police Department’s D.A.R.E. Program has a total of 17 schools receiving drug abuse prevention training. Our three School Resource Officers teach D.A.R.E. classes to every fifth grade student in the City of Santa Clara.

Over 1,600 students received this training that teaches children to make the right choices on their own and help them to identify positive alternatives to drugs and violence. SCPD will continue to expand this important program for the Middle Schools in the Santa Clara Unified School District.

Adult Crossing Guard Program
The Adult Crossing Guard program has been a vital part of the Santa Clara Police Department since 1979. Approximately thirty-two corners are staffed with an Adult Crossing Guard serving twelve Santa Clara Unified School District elementary schools.

Applications are available online, at City Hall (1500 Warburton Avenue) or at the Police Department (601 El Camino Real). Competitive wages are paid and hours and locations vary. For more information contact the Adult Crossing Guard Coordinator Community Services Officer Taylor Carpenter 408-615-4875 or by email at tcarpenter@santaclaraca.gov.

School Safety Patrol Program
The School Safety Patrol program was started in 1946 by the California State Automobile Association to ensure the safe crossing of children to and from school. Through the efforts of the Santa Clara Police Department, the California State Automobile Association, and fourteen Santa Clara public and private schools, the program has grown to over 450 fifth through eighth grade students.

The safety patrol program continues to be a vital part of promoting traffic safety around schools. The students in this program are actively involved in the control of the student body and traffic situations.

Every 15 Minutes
In 2004, the School Services Unit undertook a new program aimed at curbing drinking and driving among our high school students. Originally conceived in Chico in the 1990's, "Every 15 Minutes" is a two-day program to help prevent alcohol related incidents. The program focuses on high school students and challenges them to think about drinking, personal safety, and the responsibility of making mature decisions when lives are involved. The program's name was conceived from the fact that at that time, every 15 minutes someone in the United States dies in an alcohol-related traffic collision.

This powerful program is designed to create an awareness among students that they are not invincible. This program helps open the emotional doors, and it addresses a problem most teens do not know exist. They experience first hand how their actions affect the lives of so many other people. While it is a simulation, our people worked as hard as they could to make the experience as real as possible.

Given the extremely positive feedback we received, the "Every 15 Minutes" program will be presented at each of our city's high schools.

Teacher and Parent Support 
The Police Department provides Code Red training for all of the schools in Santa Clara. This program provides administrators, teachers, staff, and students the skills and knowledge on how to respond to high anxiety situations, including active shooter scenarios. We also provide training to all school staff and parents on cyber bullying, a growing concern as more children communicate and socially interact on the Internet.

Through partnering with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, we offer the Parent Project Educational Program. This 12-session program provides information and new skills to parents dealing with children that have high-risk behaviors.

The Santa Clara Police Department has a dedicated full-time Santa Clara County Juvenile Probation Officer who works with police detectives to handle all criminal cases involving juvenile suspects, including crimes that occurred on school campuses.