BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Bakersfield Police Department has used Flock Safety license plate reader cameras since 2021, and officials say the technology has become a critical tool for investigators, helping make arrests, recover stolen vehicles, and locate missing people.
The department's transparency portal showed more than 853,000 unique plate reads over a recent 30-day period. But Lieutenant Christopher Bagby said only a small fraction of that data is ever searched.
"It's a very small percentage," Bagby said.
During that same 30-day period, approximately 1,140 searches occurred, representing about 0.17% of all plates captured. Bagby said the way the system works is straightforward: a camera captures a license plate at a specific place and time. It does not identify who is inside a vehicle or where that person is going.
"There's no facial recognition, nor do we track people and who they hang out with or any of that stuff," Bagby said. "It captures your license plate and puts it in a database that we can then recall if we need it — not that we're actively searching to see what you're doing or where you're going."
Investigators can search for a plate, partial plate, or vehicle description connected to a case. Bagby said the technology is less about cracking cases on its own and more about speed.
"It's as much a tool of efficiency as it is anything else," Bagby said. "There are many crimes we could probably solve without the use of LPR technology. What Flock does is shorten the time it takes to locate vehicles related to suspects, locate suspects, locate where they've been, and help bring them into custody."
He estimated that roughly half of BPD's homicide cases since the department expanded its use of advanced license plate reader technology have included some connection to the system.
"This technology has already helped us make arrests, recover stolen vehicles, locate missing people, and generate investigative leads in a variety of cases," Jody Badesha of the Bakersfield Police Department said.
A recent Kern County case illustrates how the technology can generate critical leads. Delano police said Flock helped investigators find a vehicle stolen during an armed home invasion on August 14. The vehicle was later recovered abandoned in a neighboring jurisdiction.
Bagby also pushed back on the idea that the cameras amount to surveillance of residents' daily movements.
"We don't know where you're going or where you're coming from," Bagby said. "It puts your license plate at a point in time when you pass one of the Flock cameras, and that's the sum total of what we're capturing. It has no idea where you're going, how long you're gonna be there, what you're gonna do while you're there, who's in your car — it doesn't do any of that."
He added that the technology can work in both directions, not just for confirming a suspect's involvement, but ruling someone out as well.
"Sometimes license plate readers, you name it, they also disconfirm people's involvement, which is as valuable as confirming someone was involved," Bagby said.
BPD said its cameras monitor public roadways and public places and are not used in private homes or backyards. Officials also said the cameras are not used to issue traffic citations.
"Unarchived video and license plate data are automatically deleted after 30 days," Badesha said.
BPD said access to the system is limited to authorized personnel. But some community members say they want more oversight and plan to bring those concerns to Bakersfield City Council on August 26.
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