SALINAS, Calif. -- A spike in armed robberies in Salinas and tonight police said the crooks are organizing themselves before making you the target.
There were three armed robberies reported in the city in just one day.
On Thursday, one of the robbers hit the Shell gas station on Sanborn Road and took off limping after being struck by a customer who was driving into the lot.
A few hours later, Pilot on Work Street was held up, then the Subway on the 1500 block of Main Street.
In all of the cases, officers said the suspects got away with cash.
The city's already seen at least 43 robberies this year.
While police don't think they were done by the same person, they do believe there is organized crime throughout the city, likely from gang members.
Officers said they often watch your routine, get familiar with how businesses handle money, and how many people are working at any given time.
Salinas Police said manpower plays a big role, making it harder to crack down on crime.
In fact, 40 positions were cut since 2009.
There are about 155,000 people living in Salinas and only 155 officers.
To break that down, that's just one officer per every thousand people living in the city.
Police said, ideally, there should be at least two for every thousand, so they're operating at half the capacity they would like to.
