By Corina De La Torre It’s that time of the year when California municipalities begin drafting spending plans for the upcoming fiscal year. It’s an opportunity not just for the community to get involved, but it’s also an opportunity for cities and counties to reassess their practices and begin investing in services that make sense. It is time to re-evaluate what public safety means in Salinas and take into account crime statistics to make effective changes to uplift our community. According to the latest Salinas Police Department Annual Crime Report , there were a total of 5,291 crimes reported in 2021, a 3.2% decrease since 2020 and a 5.11% decrease since 2019. Despite this positive trend, SPD representatives continue to promote the narrative that more sworn officers are needed to protect our community. If that were the case, how is it that crime is going down even though the number of sworn officers has remained flat? In addition, California’s Department of Justice database reported violent crime throughout Monterey County has been going down since 2011, with a historic drop in violent crimes reported in 2019 and 2020. But these facts are not deterring the Salinas Police Department’s brass from […]
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