April is National Autism Awareness Month, and the Salinas Police Department is happy to announce that we continue supporting and promoting awareness of this important cause

On March 17, 2022, at approximately 5:55 pm, the 29-year-old driver turned southbound onto South Main Street from Plaza Circle. A bicyclist, 54-year-old Rodney James Heston, was traveling northbound on the southbound side of the street. The driver and Mr. Heston collided, causing severe injuries to Mr. Heston.

It is with a heavy heart that we at Salinas PD inform that one of our officers, Jorge David Alvarado (30), a five-year veteran was shot and killed in the line of duty last night.  At approximately 2241 hours, Officer Alvarado conducted a traffic stop in the area of East Market Street and Griffin Street. and was involved in an officer involved shooting

On Thursday, 2/24/22 at approximately 6:55 pm Salinas Police Officers responded to a report of a victim of a shooting near the intersection of Parkside St. and Hayes St.  On arrival they located a juvenile male victim, 17 years of age suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. The Salinas Police Department does not have any suspect information to release at this time.

On Saturday, February 5, 2022, at approximately 8:20 pm Salinas Police Officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert of shots fired near the intersection of Towt St. and Grandhaven St. On arrival officers located two victims, Jesus Arias Villa (22) and Karina Chavez Vargas (23) both suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Tragically both victims succumbed to their injuries.  Salinas Police Detectives responded to the scene and took over the investigation. Initially there was limited suspect information to include two suspects and a light-colored sedan and no investigative leads.

The Salinas Police Department is reminding football fans to stick to the “go safely” game plan and designate a sober driver if you plan on drinking at a Super Bowl LVI watch party.

The family notifications have been completed and the victims have been identified as Jesus Arias Villa (22) and Karina Chavez Vargas (23). The investigation revealed that both victims were seated in a vehicle parked on the 300 block of Towt St. across from Closter Park when two subjects approached on foot and shot the victims multiple times. The suspects then fled eastbound on Grandhaven St. in a light-colored sedan.

Yesterday at 4:46 am, an alert person called 911 from Kilbreth Ave to report her catalytic converter had just been stolen and the suspects were at the corner stealing from another car. There was a second caller, and both described three male suspects getting into a gray Honda or Acura. Officers responded, and as soon as the suspects saw officers arriving, they jumped into their car and fled with patrol vehicles in pursuit

Over the last several weeks, the Salinas Police Department’s Violence Suppression Task Force (VSTF) in cooperation with our law enforcement partners from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Correctional Training Facility Soledad, Salinas Valley State Prison, State Parole, Northern California HIDTA and Monterey County DA’s Office have been investigating the sales of a large amount of M30 Fentanyl pills and other narcotic sales in the City of Salinas.  The sales of these dangerous drugs are directly associated with the Norteño criminal street gang. VSTF was able to identify multiple locations associated with the sales of these narcotics and search warrants were authored for those location