BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — It's been three years since the last major street takeover in Bakersfield was shut down by the Bakersfield Police Department, thanks to a massive joint operation that changed how law enforcement handles these illegal gatherings.
The operation took place on December 30, 2022, at the intersection of Old River and McCutchen in southwest Bakersfield, where BPD unveiled new tactics to break up these events.
I sat down with Sgt Travis Harless, supervisor of the Violent Criminal Apprehension Team or V-CAT. Three years ago, he was one of the architects of the street takeover takedown team, which culminated in a massive bust involving more than 80 officers from three agencies.
"I've been a cop for 18 years, and that was one of my most fun, exciting nights," Harless said.
Bakersfield was under siege in 2022. The takeover craze was at its peak, with large groups of drivers and spectators shutting down intersections to do burnouts and post content online.
"Then I started nerding out on it, reading about it on the internet... the culture, videos, getting an idea of tactics and procedures," Harless said.
The turning point came after an incident in May at Brundage and 'A' Street, the first of several locations that night. Initially, BPD responded with three officers.
"There's like nothing the police can do about it... they just basically watch them," Harless said.
But everything changed when the group switched locations.
"One officer arrives before his partner, and he gets attacked by the mob. They start throwing rocks and bottles at his car," Harless said.
Police were severely outnumbered. At the end of the night, there were only a few arrests and a couple of cars impounded.
So Harless went to work, developing a new game plan.
"Usually, people see police coming, 10 police cars with lights, sirens, they disperse, but they didn't, they flooded into the street, attempted to block us from getting into the intersection," Harless said.
Previously, officers would go after the cars doing the burnouts. The plan shifted to targeting those getting in the way.
"If we could find a reason to arrest the spectators, then the drivers would go away on their own," Harless said.
The May takeover was followed by two more big gatherings. In September saw a police officer was clipped by a car while trying to get away, captured on body cam video. The officer was not injured.
Another takeover occurred in November, when burnouts took place under the Bakersfield sign outside the Crystal Palace.
Harless and his team tracked participants in social media groups while putting the finishing touches on a plan they would unleash on December 30, 2022.
"They say they're going to Independence HS, off of Old River and McCutchen," Harless said.
The plan involved 84 officers from BPD, Sheriff's, and CHP, along with several "Trojan Horse" vehicles.
"I think we had five Trojan Horse cars, 20 officers dressed in uniform but covered up in unmarked cars that were able to drive and get deep into the takeover," Harless said.
The Sheriff's department provided air support, tracking people as they ran, while BPD units came in from two directions to the rear of the blockade. Harless said the undercover officers jumped out of their cars, grabbing drivers at the front and creating a roadblock.
"Instead of giving them a ticket and saying go on your way to the next intersection to do this again, we could physically remove them from the problem and take them to jail," Harless said.
The Sheriff's department provided their inmate bus to transport 56 people to jail. Thirteen juveniles were cited and released to their parents.
"It was chaos, it was absolute chaos," Harless said.
In addition, more than three dozen cars were impounded.
"So if you show up in Bakersfield to commit a takeover, you're going to jail. You're going to lose your car for 30 days, lose your driver's license, you're going to lose your cell phone until we're done downloading it, and you can get it back, and you know that might take six months to a year," Harless said.
While Harless says around 90% of the people involved got away, the memory of that night will stay with them.
"We went almost three years... I think they're coming back, they've forgotten, might be time for another operation," Harless said.
"This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy."
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