The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office logged a small drop in use-of-force incidents in 2025, but the latest report comes with a grim footnote: one deputy-involved fatality after none the year before. The agency counted 603 uses of force in 2025, down from 621 in 2024, even as chemical agents remained a go-to tool in county jails and community advocates continued to warn about racial disparities.
What the report counts
The sheriff’s annual report treats a wide range of tactics as uses of force, including firearms, chemical agents, physical takedowns, punching and kicking, Tasers and batons, and it tracks injuries to both people in custody and staff, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. For 2025, the report lists 603 total incidents and notes 181 deployments of chemical agents in the jails, down from 240 in 2024. It also shows that fewer people were transported to hospitals after force incidents in 2025 compared with the prior year.
Where force happened and who it hit
Most of the force did not happen on the street, but behind bars. Jail-related…..