City of Santa Clara

Biohazard cleanup in the city of Santa Clara

The city and the county share a name, which causes confusion at exactly the wrong moment. Here is which office does what when something happens in the city of Santa Clara.

Call (669) 274-0805

Answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

A block of single-story ranch houses with lawns, a wide sidewalk and a tall redwood in one yard.

Three offices, sorted out

Santa Clara Police Department

The city's own force, which also runs the city's 911 center. It investigates, and it tells you when a home or a business is released.

Non-emergency (408) 615-5580 · 601 El Camino Real · santaclaraca.gov

County Medical Examiner-Coroner

A county office, not a city one. It investigates deaths in every city of the county, this one included, and releases the person to the funeral home the family names.

(408) 793-1900 · 850 Thornton Way, San Jose · mec.santaclaracounty.gov

On a campus

Campus agencies cover their own grounds only. Santa Clara University's Department of Public Safety answers at any hour. Mission College has campus police by day, with the Sheriff's dispatch after hours. Off campus, it is city police.

Santa Clara University (408) 554-4441 · Mission College (408) 855-5435, after hours (408) 299-2311

Once the police release the place

From that point the cleaning is yours to arrange, whether you own, rent or manage the property. Get the report number from the officer before they go. A cleanup company will want three things from you: what happened, which rooms are affected, and what the floors are made of.

If the incident was a crime, keep every receipt. The state's Victim Compensation Board may reimburse clean-up in a home, and the District Attorney's Victim Services Unit, a county office, helps with the application.

Student housing and shared rentals

Where several tenants share a house or an apartment, settle early who is dealing with the landlord. The landlord arranges work on the property; each tenant decides about their own belongings.

Parents calling from another city can make the arrangements by phone, but somebody local will have to let the company in.