Monterey County Local News: Crime & Justice

10/12/2021
The Carmel City Council unanimously appointed former South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler to run its police department and serve as director of public safety on an interim basis. Uhler is filling in for Paul Tomasi, who is leaving to become the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s head of security.

10/07/2021
Thanks to two emergency room doctors with Prescribe Safe, a Montage Health initiative to fight the overprescribing of opioids, Monterey County police agencies and doctors at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula now have access to a street drug analyzing tool.

09/23/2021
The Shasta County district attorney’s office has filed 31 criminal charges against Pacific Gas & Electric for its role in the 2020 Zogg fire, which killed four people.

09/19/2021
As of Sept. 16, 130 inmates in the Monterey County Jail have tested positive for COVID-19. This outbreak comes as more precautions are being put in place.

09/02/2021
Thanks to advances in DNA technology, law enforcement agencies are solving their unsolvable cases. In 2020, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office assembled a team of veteran investigators to lead its Cold Case Task Force.

08/26/2021
Many cheered when board members of Monterey Peninsula Unified School District voted unanimously to approve upgrades to the Dan Albert Stadium at Monterey High School. But neighbors are not pleased. Two groups have filed a lawsuit in Monterey County Superior Court, seeking to overturn the project approvals.

08/16/2021
In response to discussions of policing issues, the city of Salinas formed a Police Community Advisory Committee. The Californian explores what the committee does, and who serves on it.

08/15/2021
While reviewing cold cases in 2020, detectives at the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and Deputy District Attorney Matt L’Heureux thought DNA testing might help solve the the 1981 murder of Sonia Carmel Herok-Stone. They were right.

08/15/2021
National Night Out was held throughout the Salinas Valley on Aug. 3, with community events to build relationships between law enforcement and residents. The Salinas Valley Trib shares some photos.

08/12/2021
District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni announced that $327,991.86 obtained from Central Coast Kids & Families founder Lolita Garcia—convicted of multiple charges, including embezzlement—will go to eight local school districts, a nonprofit and the California Franchise Tax Board.

08/11/2021
Restorative justice—when victims confront the criminals who injured them—is considered one solution to the problem of crime. But some victims are reluctant to participate, according to Voices of Monterey Bay's Julie Reynolds Martinez.

08/05/2021
The Salinas Police Department wants to rebuild trust after the killing of an indigenous teenager on July 16, but social justice groups say more change is needed.

08/05/2021
Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec empire, fell to the Spanish invaders on Aug. 13, 1521. In an article titled “Ode to Tenochtitlan,” Claudia Meléndez Salinas writes, “The date has been on my mind a lot lately ... because the circumstances leading to the Mexica’s surrender became a lot easier to envision starting March 13, 2020.”

08/01/2021
Police departments throughout South Monterey County are participating on Aug. 3 in National Night Out events that are intended to build trust between officers and communities.

07/29/2021
Voices of Monterey Bay reports on a July 27 online discussion it hosted with ACLU Monterey County and NAACP’s Monterey County branch on how citizens can best tackle the reallocation of municipal budgets. The event was titled “Police and Community Budgets: Where Do We Go From Here?”

07/28/2021
The Monterey County Cannabis Enforcement Unit has participated in multiple joint operations targeting illegal cannabis. The unit aims to eliminate hazardous products, foster a fair and competitive industry for licensed cannabis businesses, and protect the environment.

07/08/2021
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on private property rights has human trafficking experts concerned about the plight of trafficked laborers. Advocates say union organizers are among the first to spot signs of labor trafficking.

06/30/2021
Homicides in the state increased 31 percent in 2020, the same year hundreds of thousands of new guns were purchased in the Golden State, according to annual data released by the Department of Justice.