In the wake of Salinas’ latest spate of gang-related shootings, Mayor Dennis Donohue is calling for a bigger and more effective police force.

Donohue says he realizes the city can’t pay for more cops, so he wants to hold community meetings to see if residents would support a public safety tax measure, or some other way to fund additional police.

“We have to very seriously and very quickly have a discussion with the community about how big of a police department we want to have,” Donohue says. “I’m not promoting a bigger police department just so you can arrest the bad guys. I’m talking about an expanded notion of policing where you can be more routinely present in schools, cops on bikes, cops in neighborhoods.”

As usual, the police department worked overtime and deployed gang-and violence-suppression teams to quell a spike in drive-by shootings that began over Labor Day weekend. At press time, the most recent homicide occurred on Sept. 16 when 17-year-old Hugo Salinas was shot and killed near Natividad Creek Park, bringing the city’s death toll to 20 this year.

Salinas police officials plan to ask the California Highway Patrol and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office to help step-up enforcement, similar to Operation Safe Streets in 2004. But while this temporary measure may net arrests and keep homicides below record levels, it won’t root out the city’s entrenched gang rivalry between Norteños and Sureños.

City leaders say they have laid the foundation for a peace strategy, boosting literacy, art and recreation programs as well as networking with faith, business and nonprofit leaders to steer kids away from gangs. But Donohue says more police officers should be a part of a long-term effort. “If we are truly to become a more peaceful city, we need to keep talking intervention and prevention, but we need to shore up the enforcement problem.”

Salinas has 182 sworn officers (and five vacant positions), which translates to 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents, says Deputy Chief Cassie McSorley. McSorley says Salinas has fewer cops compared to other cities, “especially with crime and community issues that we do have.” Nationwide, cities in Salinas’ population range averaged 1.9 full-time officers per resident in 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Flooding the streets with officers would keep crime down, says Cmdr. Kelly McMillin. He admits, however, that arresting gang members won’t bring down gangs. “To solve this problem we stop the production of gang members,” McMillin says, adding that suppression is part of the solution. “A vaccine doesn’t do you any good if you already have the disease. You have to beat down the acute sickness before a vaccine can take effect.”

But cops aren’t cheap. Including salary and benefits, the average police officer costs the city $133,500, according to Accounting Officer Miguel Gutierrez. Fifty more officers would set the city back about $6.7 million. Given the downturn in the economy, the city is in no position to foot the bill.

As revealed at the Sept. 9 City Council meeting, lagging sales- and property-tax revenues have created a $4.4 million budget deficit for the next fiscal year. In an effort to save money, staff will talk with employee unions– including police officer and management groups– about renegotiating contracts. Salinas cops are slated to receive a 5 percent pay raise in October as part of a 25 percent salary bump approved in April 2007– but now wages are on the chopping block.

“Right now we are not in any position to expand any program whatsoever,” Councilman Sergio Sanchez says. He says he likes the idea of more officers doing community policing and encouraging residents to report crimes. But there has to be buy-in from residents. “It only happens if people are willing to tax themselves,” Sanchez says.

In 2005, residents dug the city out of a financial hole and kept libraries open by passing a half-cent sales tax. This time around, in the midst of a recession, residents may not be eager to shell out more cash.

Plus, law enforcement is just one component of keeping peace.

“You can’t just focus on suppression,” says Brian Contreras, executive director of Second Chance, a gang prevention and intervention organization. “You could put a police officer on every street corner. You are not going to arrest your way out of this issue.”

Pastor Tony Ortiz says there is no magic solution. Ortiz is a former gang member who grew up in Salinas. He founded San Jose-based California Youth Outreach, and recently started a Salinas program. Ortiz says his intervention-focused organization negotiated a truce with rival gangs in San Jose to stop retaliatory shootings in 1995. But CYO’s four Salinas staff need more time to build trust with gang members before they can attempt any type of cease-fire pact in the city, Ortiz says.

For now, CYO staff are focusing on outreach at the county’s Juvenile Hall and Youth Center. Ortiz says the city should stay the course with its long-term peace strategy; many of the new initiatives are only a few months old. “It takes a while before the lawn grows,” Ortiz says. “Just keep watering it and chase the birds away and after a while we will have something to mow.”

A quick fix doesn’t exist for the city’s gang problem. Even if the city had the money for a larger police force, it would take a couple of years to recruit and train additional officers, McSorley says. In the meantime, City Manager Artie Fields has asked Police Chief Dan Ortega to review the department’s operations and future strategies. “We got to figure out a way in the near term to get more disruptive and get on the offense,” Donohue says, “and look at some new and different ways that we might be able to accomplish that.”