City Council considers new surveillance cameras for the Bakersfield Police Department

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The city of Bakersfield is looking to start a pilot mobile security program.

“The hope is to improve quality of life for the residents that live here. There are times when there’s unwanted activity in certain areas so we’re trying to deter that," said public information officer Joe Conroy.

Conroy said the Bakersfield Police Department is working with the city to improve public safety. The proposed program would allow for more mobile security cameras throughout Bakersfield.

“We would take these mobile security camera units, a large trailer looking unit. There's a mast with a camera on it and that is the 360 degree camera," said Conroy.

The cameras would record activity in the surrounding area and inform police of any crime happening nearby. Conroy said a few have already proven to be successful in the city.

“The city manager thought, you know, these have been pretty successful so far so we wanted to look into exploring, expanding this program," said Conroy.

The program is $250,000 out of a total $684.6 million budget the city will consider on Wednesday.

If approved, cameras will be placed in areas chosen by the Bakersfield Police Department.

“The locations would be determined by information and data from the police department based on either reports or just information they've gathered in terms of activity they’ve seen and where it would be best used," said Conroy.

Conroy said the cameras would most likely go in public areas like parks, using technology to make the community a safer place for everyone.