With staffing levels thin, the Salinas Police Department has changed the way it prioritizes call responses. On Jan. 26, Salinas PD implemented a new process when deciding whether to send a police officer to a reported crime.
“We had to make some drastic decisions,” Chief Roberto Filice told City Council on Jan. 24. Violent crimes such as homicides, robberies and sexual assault will continue to receive normal responses. Some will be on a case-by-case basis, including trespassing, vandalism and theft. Most quality-of-life calls, such as noise and traffic complaints, won’t trigger a response.
Salinas PD currently has 157 police officer positions, including 13 vacancies; six officers are in training and 18 are on leave. This brings the number to 118 police officers – 76 for patrol, the rest detectives and on special units – to serve 162,791 inhabitants. Salinas now has 1 police officer for every 1,379.5 residents, lower than the average of 1.6 for similarly sized cities, according to the FBI.
Understaffing is part of a national and local trend, but Salinas faces additional challenges: It has higher crime rates than neighboring cities and pay is less competitive. Since 2019, SPD has lost 46 officers; of those, 28 percent moved to nearby agencies, Filice reported. Low staffing doesn’t necessarily mean cost savings: “Almost 900 hours a month of overtime just to keep the basic levels of officers on the streets,” Police Services Administrator Tonya Erickson told council. Overtime surpassed $2 million last year.
Applications have dwindled over recent years, from 88 in 2015 to 23 in 2022. Some applicants have background check issues. “I’m not going to lower my standards,” Filice added.
(2) comments
The City of Salinas is allowing a homeless population to exist around the Shelter in the middle of Salinas neighborhoods and they won’t protect the residents or businesses from their petty crimes until they kill somebody. But people have already been killed there!
This is true Robert. But the problem goes way beyond the city. For one we might look at what Gov. Newsom has done when he declared that petty theft was not a serious crime if the value was under $1000. So , for law enforcement to go out and round up these people only to have the courts set them free, is a big waste of time. If he had put more thought into it the legal system should look deeper into those with repeat offences. When a thief is caught the value may seem petty at the time , but when you consider that it's more than likely that the average petty thief makes more than one grab in a days work, and probably does it on a daily basis, what is the value at the end of a week? How about a month? Now think about what the thief is doing with those items. Some might take only what they need for personal use, but most are for sale or trade for drugs. . For the percentage of homeless on drugs, have you ever wondered where they get those drugs? Drugs are not free, therefore a second crime category is now involved. There is nothing petty about it. Crime is like a weed. You won't get rid of it unless you pull out the root. Salinas is becoming a crime hub because has adapted a habit of sniping off the top for a temporary fix but leaving roots in the ground. Right now we have one of the best Police Chief's that we have had for a long time, but he is standing in a field of weeds growing faster than his man power can pull them up.
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