Salinas Police Worried About Rise In Deadly Crimes | Crime

SALINAS - Salinas Police detectives are investigating the city's sixth murder of the year.

Officers are worried it's the start of another spike in deadly crimes.

"Anyone who lives here, who works here or spends any time here should be concerned," said Sgt. Henry Gomez of Salinas Police.

Gomez said that's because the homicide rate in Salinas is on the rise after two straight years of big drops.

He joined the police department in 1988 so he's seen the ups and downs in the city's homicide rate.

"At the rate we're going we're on pace for 24 and that is a pretty high rate," Gomez said.

Salinas hit a record high number of murders in 2009 with 29.

Last year, there were just 13.

What concerns Gomez is while the stats may be down where the shootings are happening is spreading.

"We've had shootings at the mall, we've had shootings at public places, and a lot of robberies too lately," he said.

Gomez oversees all types of crimes -- from homicides to robberies to fraud cases.

He said there are different motives for different crimes but points at two big problems.

Almost all of the city's homicides are considered gang related, even though not all the victims are in gangs