Imperial County, California
Imperial County · El Centro is the seat · Sacramento is the capital of California · Calexico is a city · Brawley is a city · the City of Imperial is a city · San Diego is a different county
El Centro is the seat. Sacramento is the capital. Calexico and Brawley are cities, not the hall.
Imperial County, California, was created 7 August 1907 from the eastern half of San Diego County — the youngest of the fifty-eight, named for the Imperial Valley and the land company that irrigated it, not Calexico as the whole county. El Centro is the county seat. Sacramento is the capital of California. El Centro is not the capital. Calexico is not the seat. Brawley is not the seat. Do not read this page as Autauga-with-a-canal. Do not read this page as Yuma-with-a-California-stamp. Prattville is Autauga. Yuma is Arizona. Neither is this oval.
Calexico is a city on the Mexico line — not the hall. Brawley is a city — not the hall. The City of Imperial is a municipality — not the county government. Holtville, Calipatria, and Westmorland are cities — not the hall. Heber, Seeley, Niland, Salton City, Bombay Beach, Ocotillo, and Winterhaven are unincorporated communities — remainder, not a second seat. San Diego is west — San Diego the city is that hall. Riverside is north — Riverside is that hall. Yuma County, Arizona, is east across the Colorado. Mexico is south.
This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — Imperial Valley remainder patrol and RADF / Herbert Hughes / Oren R. Fox this badge still holds in El Centro — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Imperial County.
Five Supervisors at 940 West Main. They do not sit as the State Assembly.
Imperial is a general law county. A five-member Board of Supervisors, elected by district, sits at the County Administration Center, 940 West Main Street, Suite 211, El Centro, CA 92243 — Clerk of the Board Suite 209. They fund roads, the Main / Wake courthouse campus, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. El Centro City Council is a city body. Calexico City Council is a city body. The California Legislature sits in Sacramento. None of those is this Board.
Imperial Superior Court lists the El Centro Courthouse at 939 West Main Street, the El Centro Criminal Courthouse at 650 Wake Avenue, and Winterhaven Court at 2124 Winterhaven Drive. Do not invent one Calexico photograph as the whole map. Confirm live at imperialcounty.org and imperial.courts.ca.gov.
The Sheriff is a county officer (California Constitution Article XI; Government Code § 24000). This Sheriff is not on the 2026 gubernatorial table. Elections Code § 1300 (AB 759, 2022) moved sheriff and district attorney to the presidential primary. A sheriff elected in 2022 serves a six-year term; the next regular is the 2028 presidential primary. Imperial has no charter that could have locked a gubernatorial-year date before 1 January 2021. Last regular 7 June 2022. Take office at noon on the first Monday after January 1 succeeding election (Gov. Code § 24200). The Governor is 2026. That is a different desk in Sacramento.
The Mexico line is a border. Calexico is a city. San Diego is a different county.
Interstate 8, State Route 86, and State Route 111 meet on this map. The All-American Canal and the New River are water, not a San Diego badge. The Salton Sea is a lake, not a second county. A port of entry is federal — not this government. Calipatria State Prison and Centinela State Prison are CDCR — not this Sheriff. Staff who paste a Calexico crossing photograph onto West Main, or treat Brawley as the seat, or file El Centro as the capital, or rewrite this county as Autauga-with-a-canal, are on the wrong county.
How an Imperial Valley public finds Main Street, Applestill, Wake, and Sperber
Board of Supervisors: 940 West Main Street, Suite 211, El Centro. Elections / Registrar of Voters: 940 West Main Street, Suite 206 — elections.imperialcounty.org. Sheriff Administration: 328 Applestill Road, El Centro, CA 92243 — (442) 265-2000. Regional Adult Detention Facility (intake): 1328 Sperber Road — jail information (442) 265-2266. El Centro Courthouse: 939 West Main Street. Criminal Courthouse: 650 Wake Avenue. Confirm live at icso.imperialcounty.org and imperialcounty.org. A student who only knows a Calexico postcard, or a Sacramento photograph as this county, or treats El Centro City Hall as RADF, has not found this campus.
RADF, Hughes, and Fox still jail. El Centro PD does not. Calexico PD does not.
Crime in unincorporated Imperial — Heber, Seeley, Niland, Salton City, Bombay Beach, Ocotillo, Winterhaven, and the remainder — is this Sheriff. Crime in El Centro is often El Centro Police. Crime in Calexico is often Calexico Police. Crime in Brawley is often Brawley Police. Imperial, Holtville, Calipatria, and Westmorland Police are city badges. This Sheriff is not those municipal departments. The Regional Adult Detention Facility at 1328 Sperber Road is primary intake. Herbert Hughes Correctional Center and the Oren R. Fox Medium Security Detention Facility are this Sheriff’s other two El Centro houses — combined public listing near 876 beds. Official doors did not show a separate county Department of Corrections taking these houses — do not invent a jailer split.
CDCR is not this Sheriff. Calipatria State Prison and Centinela State Prison are state houses. CHP is a state badge. CBP and ICE are federal. Naval Air Facility El Centro is federal. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to El Centro PD, to Calexico PD, to a Calipatria CDCR gate, or to Yuma County, Arizona.
Care without inventing Calexico as this hall
A peace order served in Heber remainder. A court-ordered transport from Sperber Road to 650 Wake Avenue without becoming Calexico PD. Search along the All-American Canal the office actually posts. Do not invent a church. Do not invent a port of entry as this oval. Do not invent Sacramento as this hall.
What Imperial actually watches
Court calendar on Main and Wake. A wreck on I-8. Wind on the Salton. High water on the New River. Heat on the desert remainder. Coordination with El Centro PD, Calexico PD, Brawley PD, CHP, CBP, and CDCR without becoming those departments. Coordination with San Diego’s Sheriff or Riverside’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger. The canal is irrigation. The Mexico line is a border. Neither is Calexico PD as this oval.
El Centro civic snapshot (verify official sources)
- State: California · County: Imperial · Seat: El Centro · Capital of California: Sacramento
- Map: El Centro · Calexico · Brawley · Heber remainder · I-8 · SR 111 · the All-American Canal · the Mexico line
- Not Calexico as the county government · Not the capital · Not El Centro PD / Calexico PD as this oval · Not Autauga-with-a-canal
- Board: five Supervisors at 940 West Main Street
- Sheriff clock: not 2026 · last regular 2022 · next regular 2028 presidential primary · six-year bridge from AB 759
- Jail: RADF 1328 Sperber Road, plus Herbert Hughes and Oren R. Fox — this Sheriff still holds them
Orientation adapted from the California Constitution Article XI, Elections Code § 1300, Government Code §§ 24000, 24200, 25304, and 26600, Imperial County official pages (imperialcounty.org, icso.imperialcounty.org, elections.imperialcounty.org), Imperial Superior Court locations, and the Secretary of State for education. The Sheriff of record is whatever those sources say today. Confirm HQ versus court versus jail, and city PD versus this badge, on official pages before you travel.
What El Centro is not, as this county
- Not the capital of California. Sacramento is.
- Not Calexico as the county government. Not Brawley as the hall. Not Los Angeles as this hall.
- Not Heber / Seeley / Niland / Salton City as the county government.
- Not El Centro Police as this oval. Not Calexico Police. Not Brawley Police. Not CHP. Not CBP.
- Not Calipatria State Prison. Not Centinela State Prison. Not Yuma County, Arizona.
- Not Autauga-with-a-canal. Not San Diego-with-a-desert.
- Not the Governor (that desk is 2026 in Sacramento).
- Not a campaign flyer.