U.S. Department of Justice announces community policing plan to Salinas residents

Voices were strong and opinions were passionate Thursday whenmore 50 people showed up at Sherwood Hall in Salinas for a community meeting hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Working to rebuild trust in the community, the Salinas Police Department has calledon the D.O.J. for assistance.

“I don’t know that trust will come to Salinas, but I think that the letter of the law can,” said Pamela Weston, a resident of Salinas.

Weston works in East Salinas and she, like many others at the meeting, has concernsabout the D.O.J. stepping in. For the next two years, the D.O.J. will be taking a long, hard look at the city’s police department.

“We will look at use of force, every aspect of it. Training, policy, investigation, accountability,” said Ron Davis with the D.O.J.

Davis is from the D.O.J.’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). He took a lot of heat while standing in front of community members, explaining his plan to rebuild trust in Salinas.

But most residents at the meeting were not convinced. After four officer-involved shootings last year, many questioned if trust can be repaired.

“We want our communities to be safe but that requires transparency,” said Ana Barrera.

Barrera has been teaching in Salinas for over nine years. She said the problem is due to poor race relations between the city and residents.

“In the meeting today there was no bilingual translators. In Salinas, the majority of the community, especially in East Salinas, they’re Spanish speaking,” said Barrera.

But PoliceChief Kelly McMillin, who personally asked the D.O.J. to help, hopes the community will give them a chance to try.