Salinas to hire more security guards

The City of Salinas has had a shortage of law enforcement for a long time, but now the city has come out with a plan to keep its residents and tourists safe.

Salinas plans to work with several private security firms to put more uniformed security guards in the Salinas City Center and other places around town.

Right now, Salinas, Monterey County and even some places doing business in the area use different security companies. Under the city’s new proposal, they would contract several security services for the lowest rate possible and allow the county and other places with security needs to piggy-back onto their contract. It’s a proposal that began as the city looks to beef up law enforcement.

Assistant public works director, Don Reynolds said, “The cry comes for more police and to stop the crime. This is a Plan B. So it’s much easier to bring on a private contractor in this case until we can rebuild our police force and get the adequate safety that we need.”

The plan is expected to go into effect in early September, and help put more security guards in place.

KION’s Matt Sizemore will have the full story at 6 p.m.