Sheriff's Identification Unit

The mission of the Sheriff’s Identification Unit (SIU) is to provide quality and timely friction ridge examination services in an unbiased, ethical, and effective manner to our customer agencies and divisions. Our purpose is to adhere to the highest quality standards in order to maintain the highest level of public trust.

SIU contributes significantly to the public safety of Santa Clara County citizens by providing fingerprint comparison and identification services to the Sheriff’s Office as well as police departments and other law enforcement agencies across the County. SIU also plays a critical role in identifying decedents for the Office of the Medical Examiner – Coroner.

SIU provides expert witness testimony in local and federal courts, provides training to law enforcement agencies and forensic bodies, and maintains the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) which stores known fingerprints/palm prints and unsolved latent prints.

Examiners at SIU are equipped with extensive specialized knowledge, training, and experience, enabling us to carry out these crucial tasks. The residents of Santa Clara County can anticipate a high standard of work from SIU and have confidence in the dependability and efficacy of our services. To further ensure a robust quality examination system, SIU has maintained accreditation by the ANSI National Accreditation Board under ISO/IEC 17020 since 2018.