Policy change: DA to investigate all future Salinas PD officer involved shootings

In a major policy change, any future officer-involved shootings involving the Salinas Police Department will be investigated by the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office.

Police Chief Kelly McMillin and District Attorney Dean Flippo announced the new policy Thursday.

“It takes any criticism away that the police are policing themselves,” said Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin. “In modern times that extra layer of transparency is really important to a community,” added McMillan.

Under the new policy, the District Attorney’s Office will be the lead agency in all investigations in which a person is injured or dies as the result of an officer involved shooting, or dies as the result of any other action of an officer.

“We take it over immediately, we do the investigation with my bureau of investigation and then we do the legal review of the factual findings,” said Monterey County District Attorney Dean D. Flippo.

The change grew out recent recommendations by the Department of Justice and is intended to build public confidence that investigations are independent and objective.

Vicki Moon, a Salinas resident who lives next to where 39-year old Frank Alvarado was killed by Salinas Police in 2014, told KION that she prefer that a completely unaffiliated source handle officer involved shootings.

“I think they need to bring someone else in from the outside, all the way from the outside to investigate,” said Moon.