BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — A new annual report from the Bakersfield Monitor says the Bakersfield Police Department has made measurable progress toward reform under its court-ordered stipulated judgment with the California Department of Justice, as the department prepares to enter the fifth year of oversight.
The Year Four Monitoring Report outlines BPD’s efforts to update policies, improve training development and strengthen community engagement following a 2021 stipulated judgment that stemmed from a state investigation into use of force and policing practices.
The report states BPD made “substantive work in support of reform in Year Four,” including the submission of several major policies for compliance review and the development of more standardized training systems.
BPD Chief Brent Stratton said policy reform has been a major focus for the department over the last year.
“We’ve been working on the policies that are outlined within the stipulated judgment,” Stratton said. “We’ve been working collaboratively with our community advisory panel. We’ve been working with the monitoring team as well as the Department of Justice, to be able to get those policies written.”
According to the report, BPD submitted multiple policies to the Community Advisory Panel for review during Year Four, including policies involving use of force, handcuffing and restraints, conducted energy weapons, officer-involved critical incidents and search and seizure practices.
The monitor noted that community feedback became a more active part of the process, with the department responding to hundreds of comments and recommendations from the advisory panel regarding policy changes.
The report also states BPD is now shifting from policy development into training implementation, which officials say will be one of the department’s biggest challenges moving forward.
“We are working towards the training development, training implementation of our entire staff,” Stratton said. “We’re a pretty large department of well over 700 employees and 512 police officers. So being able to train everybody on all of these different policies and practices is quite a significant lift.”
The monitoring team praised the department for creating a more formal and standardized training structure, including detailed lesson plans, curriculum overviews and scenario-based training exercises designed to align with the stipulated judgment requirements.
The report also highlighted changes in how BPD reviews use of force incidents. According to the monitor, internal discussions surrounding officer-involved critical incidents have become more comprehensive, focusing not only on whether force was lawful, but also on communication, tactics, de-escalation efforts and available alternatives.
Stratton said improved data collection and analysis has helped the department better track its activities and identify trends.
“I think it’s a credit to the work that the Bakersfield Police Department has done within the Performance and Analysis Division, with our crime analysts, and the work that we’ve been able to do, to be able to capture this data, to be able to create dashboards, to create our own public reports,” Stratton said.
The monitor’s report states BPD has achieved full and effective compliance in five areas so far, though additional reforms are still required before the department can exit the stipulated judgment.
“We believe as we move into this year five, and we’re starting to move into the training implementation of the project and moving into the monitoring phase, that we will achieve full and effective compliance,” Stratton said.
The report also noted an early review of 2025 data showed a continued decline in reported use of force incidents compared to previous years. A full annual use of force analysis is expected to be released later this year.
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