Salinas police outline use of OTS grants to expand enforcement and school bicycle/pedestrian education
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Summary
At the Jan. 8 Salinas Traffic & Transportation Commission meeting, police detailed two Office of Traffic Safety grants — STEP (enforcement) and PBSP (pedestrian/bicycle education) — and described outreach to schools, helmet distributions, and staffing limits that make most grant activity overtime-funded or subcontracted.
At the Jan. 8 meeting of the Salinas Traffic & Transportation Commission, the Salinas Police Department described how two Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) grants fund enforcement and education aimed at reducing pedestrian and bicycle injuries.
The city runs the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) and the Pedestrian Bicycle Safety Program (PBSP), staff said. "The STEP grant runs on a federal fiscal grant year cycle," management analyst Vicky Bridal told commissioners, and the STEP award is limited to OTS-specified activities such as DUI checkpoints, saturation patrols, distracted-driving patrols and targeted traffic enforcement. Bridal said the city has applied for STEP for roughly 25 years.
Bridal described the PBSP as a school-focused education program the city has received for six years and which the police department contracts "100% of the programming through activities provided by Ecology Action." Ecology Action, a Santa Cruz nonprofit with a Salinas office, runs bilingual classroom presentations, bike rodeos, learn-to-ride workshops, community bike rides, repair clinics and helmet/equipment distribution, Bridal said.
Why it matters: commissioners flagged a local need for both enforcement and education around school drop-off areas and residential streets. Sgt. Seth Morton told the commission that since June 1 the traffic unit had received 68 enforcement requests via the QAlert system and about 100 additional enforcement requests through the police website, and that demand stretches staffing. "We had 1 full time officer assigned to the traffic unit and a few dedicated collateral officers," Morton said of recent staffing, adding the unit has increased to two full-time officers and more collateral officers but still operates with limited permanent staffing.
Staff, funding limits and outreach Tanya Erickson, police service administrator, said the department avoids relying on grant-funded sworn positions because it is not at a staffing level that would allow diverting those officers from core operations. "Ultimately, we're not at a staffing level that we are seeking out grants to fully fund sworn positions," she said.
Bridal said STEP-funded enforcement under the department is performed on an overtime basis because many traffic officers are on collateral assignment; PBSP educational work is delivered by Ecology Action under contract. The PBSP application is due in January on a federal fiscal schedule, Bridal said, and staff plan to maintain walk-safe and bike-safe programming and helmet distribution while evaluating newer activities such as learn-to-ride workshops and repair clinics.
Public and interagency input Michelle Overmyer of Monterey Salinas Transit asked staff to include transit riders in PBSP education because many riders walk or bike to bus stops. "I would love for the educational component ... to include MST," Overmyer said; Bridal said she would coordinate with MST.
Commissioners asked staff for crash-location statistics (time of day, specific locations) to guide engineering remedies such as flashing crosswalks or striping; Morton agreed to provide location details after the meeting. Commissioners also discussed helmet enforcement and the absence of a dedicated police bicycle patrol, and urged continued outreach to schools and parents.
Next steps: staff said applications for both grants are due in January and will reflect the city's priorities and current traffic-unit capacity. The commission discussed passing information to City Council where appropriate and asked staff to share crash-location data to help prioritize interventions.
