Salinas Police has new training to tackle street racing problem in Salinas

Police officers in Salinas have to be ready for just about anything, now add street racing to the list. But a special class conducted by the California Highway Patrol has helped them prepare.

“The course gave us a lot of knowledge and a lot of information on how to enforce street racers, as well as educate them in regards to the safety and the danger that it causes. Because people that are street racing out in the public, are putting themselves and the rest of the community in danger,” said Officer Raul Rosales.

Police said that street racing in Salinas has been an issue for quite some time, taking place in the late night hours. The new training hopes to help Salinas Police crackdown on this issue. It gave them insight on how to identify cars that have been modified for racing purposes.

“I think it’ll help a lot, it’s really a specialized field. They also taught us ways to develop probable cause to inspect the cars. So we can see a car from the outside, and have legal justification for inspecting the motor of the car, that was a big help. And then just recognizing all the modifications, which ones are legal and which ones are not legal,” said Sergeant Gerry Ross.

12 out of about 140 officers with the Salinas police department have this special training. The goal in the near future is to have all officers trained in this field.