"Some East Salinas Residents Worry More Cops Could Mean Harassment" by News Blog

News Blog

Some East Salinas Residents Worry More Cops Could Mean Harassment

March 5, 2013

Talks over a possible tax measure to hire more police officers hit East Salinas yesterday, prompting a heated discussion about how the police treat the Latino community.

At a community meeting at Cesar Chavez Library last night several residents spoke out against the possible “police tax,” citing concerns of police abuse.

Former teacher Francisco Estrada said he believes increased law enforcement presence would create animosity between the community and the police.

"What I would support more than police—more repression, more suppression—is intervention," said Estrada, who no longer lives in East Salinas. "Intervention so that our kids have more things to do. Busy children have little time to go astray."

Other residents, speaking in Spanish, told stories of times they felt intimidated by police.

“We’re harassed by the police simply because we are Latino,” said 68-year-old farmworker Juvenal Ibarra, who spoke through a translator. He added, "We're tired of measures and taxes without seeing results."

The meeting at Cesar Chavez yesterday was one of several put on by the Salinas Police Tax Committee. In January, Steve McShane, a Salinas councilman and the committee secretary, said the group supports the creation of a temporary quarter-cent sales tax to fund the construction of a new police station and another possibly permanent sales tax—either a quarter or half-cent—to fund additional police officers.

Now the funding mechanisms are less clear.

“It’s going to be something that looks like a tax, and very possibly there will be a sales tax component,” says Bob Perkins, the commitee’s chair. “How much that’s going to be is not something that anybody has decided."

Perkins added that a steering committee has been formed to explore whether there are any viable alternatives to a tax. He prefers the title “Salinas Public Safety Funding Committee” to “Police Tax Committee.”

"We don’t know what the solution is going to be,” he said.

Not everyone at yesterday’s meeting was opposed to hiring more police—but some took a cautious stance.

“I don’t want to pay more taxes that’s for sure," said Jack Alisea, pastor at Church of the Rock in Salinas.

His primarily Latino congregation agrees that there's a trust issue between citizens and officers, he said.

"But to say that we don't need more officers when there's crime, it doesn't make sense," he said.

Salinas police officers, and most of us, would not disagree with Estrada's statement about the need for "Intervention so that our kids have more things to do. Busy children have little time to go astray."

Thank you for reporting that "several residents" at this meeting cited concerns about police abuse, and others spoke of intimidation. That is important to acknowledge. And were you to ask additional Salinas residents, you'd start hearing many stories of appreciation for Salinas PD. That would include stories of the PD's own expressions of concern about kids having healthy things to do. Here's just one example: http://marilynch.com/blog/bicycle-accidents-with-injuries-in-salinas-july-2012.html

Salinas police face a lot of immediate pressures, being expected to keep the peace in Monterey County's largest city. Keep in mind our county has the highest youth homicide rate in California, for the second year, with much--though certainly not all--of that due to gang activity in Salinas. While a variety of community efforts need to be made, some of those need to be by Salinas PD. And we can't ask Salinas police to do more to reverse this youth homicide rate with fewer resources. Even a front-page story in the New York Times acknowledged they were "fighting gang violence on a shoestring" budget. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/us/in-salinas-fighting-gang-violence-on-a-shoestring.html?_r=0

Jeff Mitchell interviewed Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin for the Salinas Californian last August. Take the time to read that interview with Kelly before deciding how you feel about tax for public safety. http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20120818/NEWS01/308180017/CALIFORNIAN-Q-Kelly-McMillin-new-chief-fully-charge?nclick_check=1