Police say homicide rate continues to drop in Salinas

Salinas Police say there were 10 homicides in 2019, and that number is at its lowest since 2006. 

There were 29 homicides in 2017, 19 homicides in 2018, and that rate fell to 10 in 2019. That’s almost a 50 percent drop between 2018 and 2019.

Police said one of the contributing factors to this decline is the Violence Suppression Task Force.

“A specialized unit that is focused on gangs and gang violence, gang crimes,” Salinas Police Public Information Officer Miguel Cabrera said. “And we are partnered, along with the task force, with state, local, and federal agencies.”

Cabrera added that higher staffing levels and a better relationship with the community contributed to the decline in homicides.

“We work under the community policing concept, where the officers and their beats have daily contacts with the community,” Cabrera said. “And again, this pays dividends in the long run and they reflect, again, in the good numbers that I’m able to share with you.”

Those units work together throughout the year, according to police. In 2019, they confiscated 111 firearms.

Police also said they made five arrests in those 10 homicides that happened last year.