Salinas police outline staffing gains, recruitment push; council to consider rifle ammunition purchase Oct. 14

Chief Ruben Acosta and Commander Brian Johnson updated the Salinas Police Community Advisory Committee on staffing, recruitment and community outreach, and Acosta said the police department will ask the City Council on Oct. 14 to approve purchase of ammunition for precision rifles.

The updates matter because the department has been actively recruiting to fill vacancies and expanding training and wellness programs for officers, while some community members urged more outreach and focused safety work around schools and neighborhood hotspots.

At the start of the meeting, Chief Acosta said the ammunition purchase will go to council because the rifles are used by specialty teams and the buy is subject to “Assembly Bill 481” and therefore requires council approval. "We're going to council on October 14 for the approval and purchase of ammunition for our precision rifles," Acosta said.

Commander Brian Johnson, commander for personnel and training, presented recruitment and staffing figures as of Sept. 17. "We have a 145 sworn position build; 139 are actually sworn, six of them are police recruits right now," Johnson said. He added the department is authorized 161 sworn positions and currently counts 12 additional positions to hire, for about 16 total vacancies when including four frozen posts.

Johnson said the department has 44 filled professional staff positions out of 55 authorized, leaving 11 open professional positions—many in records and front-desk roles—and that pay and benefits compared with nearby agencies make filling some civilian posts difficult. "Emails sometimes our commanders do check emails when they're not working or there's a day off," Johnson noted in a separate exchange about contact options for the community.

The department has increased recruitment advertising, launched an up‑to‑date recruitment website, runs oral‑board workshops and has mentoring partnerships with Rancho Cielo and Hartnell College, Johnson said. He also described hiring incentives for recruits and laterals, including recruitment bonuses and higher starting pay for lateral officers.

Johnson highlighted 2025 hires so far: seven lateral officers and 12 academy graduates, and said those additions helped bolster the traffic unit to address speed and collision complaints. He noted growth in demographic representation: 21 female officers (about 14.5% of sworn positions) and roughly 70 Spanish‑speaking officers—"almost 50%" of the department, he said—compared with much lower counts in earlier years.

Johnson also described organizational wellness and peer support efforts, including follow‑up on critical incidents. "We have a team of officers that go through special training to assist with officers when it comes to critical incidents," he said, adding follow‑up is case by case and confidential unless further action is required.

Committee members and public commenters raised several community concerns during public comment and the Q&A, including bicycle safety, school‑zone enforcement and homelessness outreach near local creeks. Public commenter Eric Peterson said bicycling safety programs should serve adults as well as children: "The people who really need bicycle safety are adults," he said. Jose Guillermo (Montebello) and Jose Guerra urged more community meetings and continued enforcement after recent fatal incidents.

Committee member comments also pressed staffing and funding issues. One member asked whether salary studies or combining positions could reduce open professional posts; Johnson said the city handles salary studies and adjustments through negotiations and memoranda of understanding with unions. On whether new civilian positions the department described are grant‑funded, Johnson said the upcoming communication specialist and public‑safety recruitment coordinator are funded budgeted positions, not grant‑dependent.

The committee took one formal action during the meeting: it approved the consent minutes from the Aug. 27 meeting. The motion to approve was moved by Patsy and seconded by Yolanda Ace; Committee members Viretta, Camacho, Gasca, Hayes and Chair De La Rosa voted yes, and the motion passed.

Several attendees requested future briefings: a planned presentation on 911 dispatch priorities and online reporting (to explain the county contract that provides dispatch services), information about ShotSpotter detection range, and a focused discussion on school‑zone safety and parking enforcement. Chief Acosta said the department plans a future presentation on dispatch, online reporting and priority‑1 versus priority‑2 calls because dispatch is run under a county contract and not by Salinas PD employees.

The meeting concluded with thanks from committee members to the department for recent responses to community incidents and with multiple requests for the department to increase outreach and make contact information broadly available. "We can also become that point of contact," a committee member said about linking committee members to community events and briefings.