Today we get to spend the day in Salinas. I really dislike working in Salinas because I don’t speak a word of Spanish and nearly everyone we talk to can’t speak English. As soon as I arrived I knew I wasn’t going to have fun today because I realized I’d left my gun at home. Uh Oh, big problem. It’s bad enough that I never have my Kevlar vest with me but leaving my gun at home somewhat limits what I can do.
Lucky for me my partner has a spare Glock 9mm (I carry a .40) and a matching holster. That’s nice except he’s right handed and I’m left handed and I’m need work on my off hand shooting. Let’s hope I don’t have to defend myself.
Our first stop is the Monterey County Court House. This is the other reason I hate working in Salinas. Monterey County requires that we have a certified copy of the bail bond when we surrender a fugitive in their jail. So we have to visit the courthouse and get a copy of the bond.
Our first stop after court is a shack located in the east part of Salinas. We set up surveillance with a good view of the house. Intel tells us that the fugitive is staying here with his girlfriend without the knowledge of her parents. He sneaks in at night and leaves in the morning before her parents wake. We see to Hispanic males arrive in a white car, enter the residence and leave again.
A couple hours go by so we decide to make contact. Just as we’re walking to the door the white car reappears. Two parolee looking guys approach us and we identify ourselves. They tell us that they are related to the fugitive and don’t know where he is located. Another male comes to the front door and identifies himself as the father of the fugitive’s daughter.
He assures us that the fugitive is not there and allows us to search the house. Nothing. We chat for a bit and leave. As we we are leaving the father flags us down around the corner and basically rats the fugitive out. He give us a location the check nearby. Nothing.
On to another case in Salinas. This one is more straight forward. We just need to check and address but don’t believe the fugitive is there. Knock, knock… We hear people in the house and most of the windows are open. Knock, knock. Nothing. This goes on for 5 or 10 minutes. Finally, an Hispanic male answers the door and speaks very little English. Surprise.
After and awkward attempt to communicate he tells us the fugitive no longer lives there and allows us to search. This is a typical house in Salinas, all the bedrooms have been converted to little houses. There are maybe 6 different, unrelated people living in the house and all of them are here illegally.
One of our biggest problems is that illegal immigrants get arrested here, bail out and then go back home to Mexico. This is a common problem and because of this they hardest people to find. I also see a lot of them using social security numbers that don’t belong to them. We have a database system that we use to locate people by social security number. There have been occasions when I run a number and 20 or 30 Hispanic people are using the same number. I have even had people tell me they will just change their name and social security number and no one will find them. Very frustrating. This is another reason why I hate working in Salinas.
On to Seaside and we talk to another Spanish speaker. He told us that the fugitive is his brother and that he has not seen him in a month. He also doesn’t seem to care that he’s going to have to pay $15,000 for the bond if we don’t find him. He shrugs it off indicating that he isn’t going to pay it anyway.
Now were in Watsonville looking for one of my fugitives. We already have reason to believe that he’s gone back to Mexico but we need to talk to his employer and check his address. His employer says the fugitive has been working there for 8 years and up and quit last month. He tells me that they are all like family but does not know why he quit. Funny, the guys been there 8 years, you’re like family but you didn’t bother to find out why he quit?
At his house it’s the same thing – empty. It looks like they packed it up and split. This case is going to take some work. It’s been a week since I’ve arrested anyone and I’m getting frustrated.
