BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Thursday evening trick or treaters had the right to remain “safe” while getting their candy thanks to the Bakersfield Police Department's Hal-LAW-een event.

While the pandemic continues to make Halloween plans a little bit tricky the BPD made sure kids still get their treats. The BPD and their community partners all dressed up for their 4th Annual Hal-LAW-een event this year in a form of an outdoor walkthrough Thursday evening.

"Last year we tried to do it in the form of a drive-thru, which was not successful in the way we were not anticipating as many folks coming out to attend our event, and so it heavily impacted the streets," explained Community Relations Supervisor Carina Ortiz. "I think the silver lining is that people actually wanted to attend the event. That being said, we wanted to make sure with last year's great turnout, we wanted to not impact the streets but still have something for our community."

And they had quite the turnout with the line for the walk-through wrapping around city hall north.

According to Ortiz, anywhere from 1,500 to 1,800 attended the event pre-pandemic when it was held at the Bakersfield Police Department.

“We just get to engage with our community and give something back without any real crisis moment and be community members together. It’s something fun that our employees and their families out too."