Bakersfield Police Defend Use of Flock License Plate Cameras Amid Privacy Concerns

Our Take

Credit to 23ABC News | KERO for getting Bakersfield PD on camera to defend its Flock Safety network. That's useful, because it's the standard script we hear in city after city: the cameras helped crack a case, so the privacy questions are treated as an afterthought. What rarely gets asked on air is who else can query that data, how long it's retained, whether it's shared with federal agencies or other departments, and what audit trail exists to catch misuse. A department's word that the system is used responsibly isn't a substitute for enforceable policy, public reporting, and independent audits.

This is the pattern we track nationally: a city quietly builds a dragnet capable of tracking every vehicle's movements, then frames pushback as a misunderstanding of the technology rather than a legitimate concern about power without accountability. Flock's pitch is always about solved crimes, never about the millions of innocent drivers whose comings and goings get logged in the process. Bakersfield residents deserve real answers about audit logs, data-sharing agreements, and retention limits, not just reassurance.

If you're in Bakersfield or anywhere else, check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and visit our take-action page for ways to push your city council toward real transparency and limits before the next camera goes up.