diff --git a/src/lib/server/db/employee.ts b/src/lib/server/db/employee.ts
index 4350607..c11d624 100644
--- a/src/lib/server/db/employee.ts
+++ b/src/lib/server/db/employee.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import { or, eq, and, max, gt, count, isNull } from 'drizzle-orm';
 import { employee, employeeEntry, employeeExit } from './schema/employee';
 import { StateInside, StateOutside, type State } from '$lib/types/state';
-import { fuzzySearchFilters, sqlConcat, sqlLeast, sqlLevenshteinDistance } from './fuzzysearch';
+import { fuzzySearchFilters } from './fuzzysearch';
+import { sqlConcat, sqlLeast, sqlLevenshteinDistance } from './utils';
 import { isInside } from '../isInside';
 import { DB as db } from './connect';
 import { capitalizeString, sanitizeString } from '$lib/utils/sanitize';
@@ -92,13 +93,13 @@ export async function getEmployees(
 									...fuzzySearchFilters([employee.identifier], nonEmptySearchQuery, {
 										substr: true
 									}),
-									...fuzzySearchFilters([employee.fname], nonEmptySearchQuery, { distance: 4 }),
-									...fuzzySearchFilters([employee.lname], nonEmptySearchQuery, { distance: 4 }),
+									...fuzzySearchFilters([employee.fname], nonEmptySearchQuery, { distance: 5 }),
+									...fuzzySearchFilters([employee.lname], nonEmptySearchQuery, { distance: 5 }),
 									...fuzzySearchFilters([employee.fname, employee.lname], nonEmptySearchQuery, {
-										distance: 5
+										distance: 6
 									}),
 									...fuzzySearchFilters([employee.lname, employee.fname], nonEmptySearchQuery, {
-										distance: 5
+										distance: 6
 									})
 								]
 							)
diff --git a/src/lib/server/db/fuzzysearch.ts b/src/lib/server/db/fuzzysearch.ts
index 7b77951..20b1087 100644
--- a/src/lib/server/db/fuzzysearch.ts
+++ b/src/lib/server/db/fuzzysearch.ts
@@ -1,22 +1,11 @@
-import { sql, ilike, type Column, type SQL } from 'drizzle-orm';
+import { ilike, type Column, type SQL } from 'drizzle-orm';
+import { sqlConcat, sqlLevenshtein } from './utils';
 
 type FuzzySearchFiltersOptions = {
 	distance?: number;
 	substr?: boolean;
 };
 
-type LevenshteinOptions = {
-	insertCost: number;
-	deleteCost: number;
-	substitutionCost: number;
-};
-
-const defaultLevenshteinOptions: LevenshteinOptions = {
-	insertCost: 1,
-	deleteCost: 3,
-	substitutionCost: 2
-};
-
 export function fuzzySearchFilters(
 	dbFields: Column[],
 	searchQuery: string,
@@ -52,54 +41,3 @@ export function fuzzySearchFilters(
 
 	return [ilikeFilter, ...levenshteinFilter];
 }
-
-/*
- * Returns the sql for concatenating multiple columns with a separator using CONCAT_WS
- */
-export function sqlConcat(cols: Column[], separator?: string): SQL<Column> {
-	if (cols.length === 0) {
-		throw new Error('Passed columns length is 0');
-	}
-
-	if (cols.length === 1) {
-		return sql<Column>`${cols[0]}`;
-	}
-
-	const sqlCols = cols
-		.map((col) => sql<Column>`${col}`)
-		.reduce((prev, curr) => sql`${prev}, ${curr}`);
-	return separator !== undefined
-		? sql<Column>`CONCAT_WS(${separator}, ${sqlCols})`
-		: sql<Column>`CONCAT(${sqlCols})`;
-}
-
-/*
- * Returns the sql for getting the least value out of N columns
- */
-export function sqlLeast(cols: SQL<number>[]): SQL<number> {
-	const sqlCols = cols.reduce((prev, curr) => sql`${prev}, ${curr}`);
-	return sql<number>`LEAST(${sqlCols})`;
-}
-
-/*
- * Returns the sql for determining if the levenshtein distance is less than or equal to the passed distance
- */
-export function sqlLevenshtein(
-	col: SQL<Column>,
-	input: string,
-	distance: number,
-	opts: LevenshteinOptions = defaultLevenshteinOptions
-): SQL<boolean> {
-	return sql<boolean>`LEVENSHTEIN(LOWER(${input}), LOWER(${col}), ${opts.insertCost}, ${opts.deleteCost}, ${opts.substitutionCost}) <= ${distance}`;
-}
-
-/*
- * Returns the sql for getting the levenshtein distance
- */
-export function sqlLevenshteinDistance(
-	col: SQL<Column>,
-	input: string,
-	opts: LevenshteinOptions = defaultLevenshteinOptions
-): SQL<number> {
-	return sql<number>`LEVENSHTEIN(LOWER(${input}), LOWER(${col}), ${opts.insertCost}, ${opts.deleteCost}, ${opts.substitutionCost})`;
-}
diff --git a/src/lib/server/db/student.ts b/src/lib/server/db/student.ts
index d18766a..2f346a1 100644
--- a/src/lib/server/db/student.ts
+++ b/src/lib/server/db/student.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import { or, eq, and, max, gt, count, isNull } from 'drizzle-orm';
 import { student, studentEntry, studentExit } from './schema/student';
 import { StateInside, StateOutside, type State } from '$lib/types/state';
-import { fuzzySearchFilters, sqlConcat, sqlLeast, sqlLevenshteinDistance } from './fuzzysearch';
+import { fuzzySearchFilters } from './fuzzysearch';
+import { sqlConcat, sqlLeast, sqlLevenshteinDistance } from './utils';
 import { isInside } from '../isInside';
 import { DB as db } from './connect';
 import { capitalizeString, sanitizeString } from '$lib/utils/sanitize';
@@ -90,13 +91,13 @@ export async function getStudents(
 							or(
 								...[
 									...fuzzySearchFilters([student.index], nonEmptySearchQuery),
-									...fuzzySearchFilters([student.fname], nonEmptySearchQuery, { distance: 4 }),
-									...fuzzySearchFilters([student.lname], nonEmptySearchQuery, { distance: 4 }),
+									...fuzzySearchFilters([student.fname], nonEmptySearchQuery, { distance: 5 }),
+									...fuzzySearchFilters([student.lname], nonEmptySearchQuery, { distance: 5 }),
 									...fuzzySearchFilters([student.fname, student.lname], nonEmptySearchQuery, {
-										distance: 5
+										distance: 6
 									}),
 									...fuzzySearchFilters([student.lname, student.fname], nonEmptySearchQuery, {
-										distance: 5
+										distance: 6
 									})
 								]
 							)
diff --git a/src/lib/server/db/utils.ts b/src/lib/server/db/utils.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e2662e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/server/db/utils.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+import { diacriticsMap } from '$lib/utils/sanitize';
+import { sql, type Column, type SQL } from 'drizzle-orm';
+
+type LevenshteinOptions = {
+	insertCost: number;
+	deleteCost: number;
+	substitutionCost: number;
+};
+
+const defaultLevenshteinOptions: LevenshteinOptions = {
+	insertCost: 1,
+	deleteCost: 3,
+	substitutionCost: 2
+};
+
+/*
+ * Returns the sql for concatenating multiple columns with a separator using CONCAT_WS
+ */
+export function sqlConcat(cols: Column[], separator?: string): SQL<Column> {
+	if (cols.length === 0) {
+		throw new Error('Passed columns length is 0');
+	}
+
+	if (cols.length === 1) {
+		return sql<Column>`${cols[0]}`;
+	}
+
+	const sqlCols = cols
+		.map((col) => sql<Column>`${col}`)
+		.reduce((prev, curr) => sql`${prev}, ${curr}`);
+	return separator !== undefined
+		? sql<Column>`CONCAT_WS(${separator}, ${sqlCols})`
+		: sql<Column>`CONCAT(${sqlCols})`;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Returns the sql for getting the least value out of N columns
+ */
+export function sqlLeast(cols: SQL<number>[]): SQL<number> {
+	const sqlCols = cols.reduce((prev, curr) => sql`${prev}, ${curr}`);
+	return sql<number>`LEAST(${sqlCols})`;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Returns the sql for determining if the levenshtein distance is less than or equal to the passed distance
+ */
+export function sqlLevenshtein(
+	col: SQL<Column>,
+	input: string,
+	distance: number,
+	opts: LevenshteinOptions = defaultLevenshteinOptions
+): SQL<boolean> {
+	return sql<boolean>`LEVENSHTEIN(LOWER(${sqlRemoveDiacritics(input)}), LOWER(${sqlRemoveDiacritics(col)}), ${opts.insertCost}, ${opts.deleteCost}, ${opts.substitutionCost}) <= ${distance}`;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Returns the sql for getting the levenshtein distance
+ */
+export function sqlLevenshteinDistance(
+	col: SQL<Column>,
+	input: string,
+	opts: LevenshteinOptions = defaultLevenshteinOptions
+): SQL<number> {
+	return sql<number>`LEVENSHTEIN(LOWER(${sqlRemoveDiacritics(input)}), LOWER(${sqlRemoveDiacritics(col)}), ${opts.insertCost}, ${opts.deleteCost}, ${opts.substitutionCost})`;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Returns the input string with diacritics removed
+ */
+export function sqlRemoveDiacritics(input: string | Column | SQL<Column>): SQL<Column> {
+	return Array.from(diacriticsMap).reduce(
+		(acc, [diacritic, sanitized]) => sql`REGEXP_REPLACE(${acc}, ${diacritic}, ${sanitized}, 'g')`,
+		sql<Column>`${input}`
+	);
+}
diff --git a/src/lib/utils/sanitize.ts b/src/lib/utils/sanitize.ts
index b5f031c..a72486e 100644
--- a/src/lib/utils/sanitize.ts
+++ b/src/lib/utils/sanitize.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export function removeDiacritics(input: string): string {
 		.join('');
 }
 
-const diacriticsMap = new Map([
+export const diacriticsMap = new Map([
 	['č', 'c'],
 	['Č', 'C'],
 	['ć', 'c'],