Located in the Palo Alto Courthouse, the Palo Alto Branch Office of the Santa Clara County District Attorney prosecutes crimes that occur in Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Stanford. The Office is currently under the direction of Deputy District Attorney Javier Alcala.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office is the law enforcement agency for all of Santa Clara County, covering 15 cities and 1.7 million residents. It is the largest prosecuting agency in Northern California, handling over 45,000 cases a year with a staff of nearly 500 people.
The City of Palo Alto has a wealth of family resources including child- care services. Its website (http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/csd/community_and_family_resources/child_care.asp) lists licensed child-care centers, subsidized child-care information, child-care provider resources and parent support groups. This is an excellent place to start your search for after-school programs at Palo Alto public elementary schools and local day-care centers.
This division of the Palo Alto police department protects and cares for animals at risk of injury, neglect or homelessness. In addition to pet adoption and a wide range of educational resources for pet owners, they provide animal control services and respond to animal nuisance complaints. They offer low-cost spay/neuter, vaccination and licensing for your dog, cat, rabbit guinea pig or rat, and some financial assistance is available.
The Santa Clara County Public Defender Office provides legal representation to indigent clients who are charged with crimes in Santa Clara County. The office also represents minors who have been charged in Juvenile Court. The court's mandate comes from the Sixth Amendment of the federal Constitution, as well as Article 1, Section 15 of the California Constitution, which provide defendants the right to counsel. The office aims to provide vigorous, high quality representation to its clients regardless of the nature or notoriety of the charges against them. The office is organized under Mary J. Greenwood.
Environmental Compliance is the public works division of the City of Palo Alto. It supplies pollution prevention information and programs to residents and businesses within the service area. It also maintains a pre-treatment program for control of industrial dischargers, regulates many commercial dischargers, and treats waste water from the East Palo Alto Sanitary District, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Stanford. Public outreach information is available on many topics on the Web site.