Bakersfield Police Department
The Bakersfield Police Department (BPD) is the agency responsible for law enforcement within the city of Bakersfield, California, United States. It has over 590 officers and professional staff, covering an area of 151.2 square miles (392 km2) serving an urban population of more than 400,000. The current chief of the department, since April 2020, is Greg Terry. The department protects the city, split between two areas and six zones with two stations, the main department headquarters and the west side substation. The department administration is made up of the chief of department, two assistant chiefs, four captains and eleven lieutenants.
"The Bakersfield Police Department partners with our community to protect the lives and property of the people we serve."
"Compassion • Accountability • Professionalism"
Founding The Bakersfield Police Department traces its origin back to the incorporation of the City of Bakersfield in 1898. On January 13, 1898, the Bakersfield City council instituted the Bakersfield City Marshal's Office with Thomas A. Baker as its first Marshal. The police department was itself incorporated on February 27, 1915, with Jacob Horace Dupes as Chief of police. 1920-1960s Robert B. Powers was hired as a motorcycle patrolman in 1928. He became chief of police in 1933, and instituted a number of reforms and on-the-job training.: p.3–7 His first major action was during the California Agricultural Strike of 1933. From May to October 1938 a murder case consumed his time - that of Mathias H. Warren, father of Earl Warren who was soon to be attorney general and then governor of California, and in time, Chief Justice of the United States.: p.9–18 In June 1939 Powers supported an initiative to get women on the police force if they were college educated and paid well. On July 3, 1941, the Bakersfield Police Department accepted its first female officer with the hiring of Mary Holman Dodge. In 1944-5 Powers was appointed to a wartime state committee on law enforcement under then-governor Earl Warren.: pp.37–41 Powers was also a strong voice in determining successive chiefs through to 1966.
The Bakersfield Police Department has been criticized over the years for heavy-handed tactics and overuse of force. In recent years, complaints regarding excessive use of force, racial profiling, harassment, and response delays have been registered by criminals, suspects, witnesses, and affected family members. In March 2001, Tony Eddington and Robert Johnson were stopped in the city of Bakersfield for a traffic violation and ordered to strip for a roadside search. The men, both African-American, contend the search was racially motivated, and sued the BPD for damages exceeding $350,000.00. The BPD settled out of court for an undisclosed sum and have since installed a permanent policy detailing rules on when officers may conduct strip searches in the field.[citation needed] There have been many complaints against the BPD for excessive use of force. Most notably is when there is an officer involved shooting. Many critics of the department have made the charge of shooting first, asking questions later and firing too many rounds at suspects. A federal probe of the BPD was begun in July 2003. The probe would seek information and investigate some 47 complaints against the BPD for use of force and racial profiling. In January 2008, the United States Department of Justice cleared the Bakersfield Police Department of any wrongdoing stemming from the complaints.
The Bakersfield Police Department employs the latest in uniforms, equipment and vehicles.
Uniforms and equipment
The badge of the department is a gold-colored metal shield surmounted by an eagle, with blue enamel panels stating the name of department, rank of the holder, and badge number. In the center is an enameled seal of the State of California. This design, common in the Central Valley, is based on the 1923 Series 5 badge of the Los Angeles Police Department. The current BPD basic patrol uniform consists of 5.11 brand B Class uniform in midnight navy blue. Current department policy mandates all patrol officers, senior officers, uniformed detectives, and sergeants have sewn on cloth department badge patches and embroidered names. Lieutenants, Captains and all chiefs are still allowed metal badges and name plates. Patrol officers working foot-beat patrol or bicycle patrol are authorized to wear navy blue polo shirts with the department badge embroidered and 5.11 Tactical shorts in midnight navy during hot weather conditions. K-9 officers also wear the 5.11 brand B Class uniform with K-9 designation embroidered on the uniform above the embroidered name of the officer. This brings all department patrol officers in line with the same uniforms. All officers in uniform or working field assignments wear Second Chance Level III-A body armor.
Weapons
All police officers of the Bakersfield Police Department are issued a department standard duty weapon. The current issue weapon is the officer's choice through initial qualification of either the Glock model G17 Gen 4 9mm full size semi-automatic pistol, or the Glock model G19 Gen 4 9mm compact semi-automatic pistol. The Glock model G26 Gen 4 9mm subcompact handgun is authorized as secondary carry duty weapon for plain clothes detectives, lieutenants, captains and all chiefs. It is department standard for all duty weapons, excluding the Model 43, to have pistol mounted tactical lights of either Surefire or Streamlight manufacture. Patrol officers of the BPD are given the option of carrying either a Remington Model 870 12-gauge shotgun or a Colt AR-15 5.56 mm Government carbine as a vehicle stationed arm.
Vehicles
The Bakersfield Police Department operates Ford Taurus Police Interceptors as well as the Ford Police Interceptor Utility as standard patrol vehicles. The cruisers are in the standard black and white configuration with Code 3 Defender LED Lightbars. Their standard siren system is the Code 3 Z3. All BPD cruisers are equipped with Microsoft Windows based mobile data terminals and Motorola console communication radios. Currently, the department is now adding new equipment that will better aide officers during operations and field investigations. The new equipment is to include vehicle licence plate scanners that can search statewide databases on the spot for DUI offenses and stolen vehicles. Cruisers also carry handheld fingerprint scanners known as Blue Check for instantaneous field identification. Also, the BPD is in the use of in-car lineups software package for the mobile data terminals. The program known as COPLINK is connected to major law enforcement databases around the state of California to compile data on possible suspect information. E-cite citation devices are also carried aboard BPD cruisers.
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The Bakersfield Police Department has had a variety of training academies throughout its existence. While most of the academies were run by the BPD with the goal of training solely BPD officers, there has been two occasions when the department, for fiscal reasons, joined with another agency to fund and run a joint academy to train multiple agency officers. The most recent incarnation that the BPD operated was the Bakersfield Law Enforcement Training Academy located on the grounds of Bakersfield College, which began operations in January 1999 and culminated with the graduating of Class 01/99 on June 5, 1999. The academy continued to train officers for Bakersfield Police and other agencies until 2008 when a fiscal crisis demanded that the department once again be joined with the Kern County Sheriff Department to train law enforcement officers. Both the BPD and the KCSO commanded the Kern Regional Law Enforcement Training Academy, located on Norris Road. The KRLETA is accredited by and follows the criteria set forth by the California commission of Peace Officers Standards and Training. As of August 2019, Bakersfield Police Department restarted a solo police academy in their own facility at 4646 California Avenue. The building is a heavily refurbished former restaurant. The facility was refurbished and upgraded with classrooms and locker room facilities, and a defensive tactics room.
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The Bakersfield Police Department has established an informational website that allows the citizens of Bakersfield the opportunity to be involved in solving criminal cases within the Bakersfield community. The "Bakersfield Police Open-Case Files" is a continuously updated website that permits citizens to review open and unsolved cases and report any and all information that they may have that may assist the department in solving cold cases and leading to the arrest and conviction of outstanding criminals. The Bakersfield Police Department provides an informational website that tracks the crime rates in the city. "Bakersfield Police Crime Statistics" is an interactive website that provides the statistics for crime reporting and calls for service in a given area. Users of the site can locate their area within the city of Bakersfield and see the level of crime for a particular date. The site lists areas by maps, calls for service levels and the location of crimes that have occurred.
A television sitcom entitled Bakersfield P.D. aired on the FOX network during the 1993–1994 season. It dealt with life inside the Bakersfield Police Department, portraying the department as an incompetent, backwoods police force. It starred Chris Mulkey, Tony Plana, Ron Eldard and Brian Doyle-Murray. The Clint Eastwood 1980 film Any Which Way You Can featured scenes in the city of Bakersfield with a car chase scene involving Bakersfield Police officers. A fourth season episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, entitled "Dead Ringer", featured a secondary murder plot involving a female Bakersfield Police detective as a possible suspect. In 1999, KB Toys released a line of exclusive diecast metal toy cars based on classic hotrod cars featuring real city police logos and paint schemes. "Cop Rods" by Mattel featured a tail dragger hotrod decorated in the Bakersfield Police department style.
