Laurie Smith

1998–2010 After Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr made a controversial decision not to prosecute on grounds of insufficient evidence in an alleged rape of a 17-year-old in San Jose in March 2007, Sheriff Smith declared the case "still open" and that she believed a sexual assault did occur. Carr submitted the case to the Office of the State Attorney General for review.

Fourth term: 2010–2014 In 2010, Metro Silicon Valley credited Smith with putting the sheriff's office on a sound and efficient basis. She was re-elected in 2010.

A lawsuit in 2011 claimed that Smith issued concealed carry permits preferentially to friends and donors.

In 2012, there was controversy over Smith's assigning a bodyguard to Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa, Jr., who was ultimately convicted of misuse of funds and other crimes. The bodyguard was a family friend of Shirakawa's, and the bodyguard's brother was a political advisor of Shirakawa. The bodyguard returned to his original job as a county jailer after criticism.

Fifth term: 2014–2018 In June 2014 Smith won election for a fifth term against retired Sheriff's Captain Kevin Jensen, who had been endorsed by the Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriffs' Association and the Santa Clara County Correctional Peace Officers' Association.

On August 27, 2015, mentally-ill inmate Michael Tyree was beaten to death by three jail guards who were convicted of second-degree murder in 2017.

Two inmates escaped from custody in San Jose in November 2016. Two inmates escaped from custody in Palo Alto in November 2017.

On June 5, 2018, Smith ran for re-election to her sixth term against five challengers including former undersheriff John Hirokawa and Deputy Joseph LaJeunesse. Smith was re-elected.

Sixth term: 2018–2022 In 2019, The Mercury News, San Jose Inside, and other publications uncovered evidence that carrying a concealed weapon (CCW) permits may have been issued in a "pay-to-play" fashion to those who donated money to her campaign reelection funds. The Santa Clara County District Attorney opened an investigation and on August 7, 2020, four individuals, including Capt. James Jensen, were indicted by a grand jury. On November 20, 2020, Undersheriff Rick Sung was also indicted. On December 14, 2021, Smith was indicted by a Santa Clara County civil grand jury on seven counts of corruption and misconduct.

On March 10, 2022, Smith announced that she would retire at the end of her term in January 2023. She retired early on October 31, 2022, before the end of jury deliberations in her public corruption trial, and filed a motion to have the charges dropped, which was denied. On November 3, a special civil jury found Smith guilty of all six charges of corruption and willful misconduct, five of which were regarding CCW permits and one relating to the Sheriff's coverup of police misconduct records from an independent investigator.

Organizations , Smith has been on the Salvation Army Board of Directors, a member of Rotary International, a member of the Advisory Board at the University of San Francisco, and a member of the Administration of Justice Program Advisory Board at De Anza College. She is part of the National Sheriffs' Association, and participates in half a dozen regional and international law enforcement groups (in particular she was President of the California State Sheriffs' Association in 2007–08 and is on the President's Council ) as well as a dozen local groups.