SALINAS, Calif. -- Salinas Police said they're seeing an uptick in drug activity near the downtown area. This after two people overdosed on drugs Sunday morning near Soledad Street.
Police said most of the drug dealing happens in the neighborhood along East Lake and Soledad. Officers said what's difficult now is tracking down some of the drug dealers who aren't even from around here.
"A lot of them are from Monterey County, maybe Seaside, Soledad," said Sgt. Mike Groves. "Some are from Salinas. It's difficult because it is so transitory. It can happen fast. A drug buy can happen in just seconds."
Officers said there's always been an issue in the area, but recently it's gone way up. They said they typically get up to 10 calls a week for drug activity. In the last few weeks it has almost doubled.
They said dealers target the homeless and other people who hang around the area.
Armando Ortiz works around the corner and said he's not surprised drug activity has gone up because it's always been around the area.
"This is a common thing that we see all the time and it's kind of sad, but that's just the way it is. It's just kind of business as usual and it's sad that it is," he said.
Officers said they're trying to put a bigger emphasis on patrols in the area by giving out more citiations and making more arrests, rather than just giving warnings.
But being short staffed makes it hard.
"We just don't have the officers that are always consistently going to be free to do this type of proactive work," Sgt. Groves said.
Police said the most common drugs they see being sold in the area are heroin, cocaine and marijuana.
