Salinas Police present 2024 annual report; committee asks about response times, online reporting and vehicle-theft grant

SALINAS, Calif. — Assistant Police Chief Luis Bravo presented a condensed version of the Salinas Police Department’s 2024 annual report to the Police Advisory Committee on Aug. 27, outlining crime trends, staffing and program developments and answering committee questions about response times, online reporting and vehicle theft enforcement.

The report, Bravo said, covers the department’s calls for service, arrests, staffing and specialty units, and is available in full on the department website. "This is just a condensed version," Bravo told the committee. He said the department handled about 132,147 calls for service in 2024 and made roughly 2,115 arrests. The department reported an average response time for priority 1 calls of about four minutes or less from dispatch to arrival, and a combined priority 1 and 2 arrival-rate statistic of about 86.93%.

The nut of the presentation was crime trends and department capacity. Bravo noted a sharp decline in homicides from earlier years, reporting six homicides in 2024 and saying the department had cleared or solved four of those cases. He described the decline in part as the result of investigative work, community cooperation and technology such as home surveillance and license-plate readers. "One is too many," the assistant chief said when discussing homicides.

The presentation summarized several operational highlights: - Staffing and diversity: The department reported roughly 128 sworn officers on duty at a point in 2024, with 161 authorized positions and recruits in the academy. About half of the department is Spanish-speaking, and the department reported growth in female hiring and higher educational attainment among…