California
Kern County
On record
Checked 20 Aug 2026- Technologies
- 1
- Systems
- 2
- Devices mapped
- 617
Kern County, California. Device data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), with community reporting via DeFlock. Open the full map →
Kern is the first county on this site where the record shows a plate reader network turning into something else.
Bakersfield’s police department told its council in June 2026 that its Real Time Information Center “became operational”, that it had “Expanded the Police Department’s existing Flock camera network as part of the implementation” of that centre, and that forty CCTV cameras had gone up at intersections across the city. Its goals for the following year include routing cameras from a decommissioned municipal CCTV system into the same platform “as feeds in our Flock system”. A contract schedule four months earlier bought an integration between that platform and computer-aided dispatch.
A plate reader answers a question about the past: where was this car. A room watching camera feeds and dispatch data together answers a question about now. Every step of that assembly was disclosed, in public budget documents, as accomplishments and goals. No step was ever an item the public could turn up and weigh on its own.
At the same June meeting, the Vice Mayor asked staff for the number and locations of the cameras, the data retention logs, and a process for keeping the public informed. Two weeks later four residents came to the podium about the same system.
The county sheriff is the more forthcoming of the two agencies here. It publishes its policy manual by section, and Section J holds two plate reader policies four years apart: a 2020 one governing the use of commercial plate databases, which states that the office deploys no cameras of its own, and a 2024 one governing the Flock network it now runs. The newer policy says no reasonable suspicion or probable cause is required to search it, and also prohibits sharing the data with federal and out-of-state agencies, which is a restriction this site has not often found written down.
What nobody outside these agencies appears to know is how many cameras there are. Kern County’s own website and its board of supervisors portal both refuse automated requests, so the decision that created the sheriff’s network is something we have not been able to look at.
What's in use here
The department's own budget report says the real-time centre is operational, the camera network was expanded to feed it, and city CCTV will be routed into it. At the same meeting, the Vice Mayor asked how many cameras there are.
Two published policies, four years apart. The 2020 one governs querying other people's plate data and says the office deploys no cameras. The 2024 one governs the cameras it now runs, and forbids sharing with federal agencies.
Who runs it
The agency is the accountability unit: who voted, whose policy applies, and who answers a records request.
| Agency | Jurisdiction | Systems |
|---|---|---|
| Bakersfield Police Department | City of Bakersfield | 1 |
| Kern County Sheriff's Office | Kern County | 1 |
| 2 agencies on record. A jointly run system counts against each of its operators, so this column is not a county total. | ||
Trackers
Meetings, contracts, records
Nothing listed yet. The trackers launch here, and facts appear only with their sources.
How the inventory works →What you can do
Civic action
Show up
Public comment is open to any resident, and you do not have to be an expert to use it. We have not yet confirmed where the bodies that decide for Kern County meet. How the inventory works explains what we check and how to check it yourself.
How the inventory works →Personal protection
Protect yourself
Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.
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