Squatters' camp on highway. Characters in scene from Resettlement film. Near Bakersfield, Calif. 1935

#Bakersfield #Calif #second #California #theGreatDepression #undefined #photography #DorotheaLange

Feelin' A Little Flaky

Bakersfield, California 2014
#Feelin_A_Little_Flaky #Hogwash_Book_Six #metal #Bakersfield #California #Kern_County #Hogwash #Hog_Wash #photography
https://flic.kr/p/2ry1Sqe

SATURDAY MUSIC VIDEO MATINEE: “Act Naturally”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hNcBhJUiYs

#JohnnyRussell #BuckOwens #TheBeatles #RingoStarr #ActNaturally #Bakersfield #countrymusic #rockabilly #twang #popmusic #singersongwriter #hotdate #DonRich #Buckaroos #VoniMorrison #johnnyjblair #singeratlarge

Sycamore Cogeneration Company 2014 07 21 10 (t)

Bakersfield, California 2014
#Sycamore_Cogeneration_Company_2014_07_21_10 #Bakersfield #California #Kern_County #Hogwash_Book_Six #Hogwash #Hog_Wash #photography
https://flic.kr/p/2rxQEkj

A few weeks ago, we filed public records requests with the #Bakersfield Police Department and Kern County Sheriff's Office to see their contracts with #Flock Safety. They're the surveillance company quietly building a massive camera network across the country.

BPD sent us 13 documents this morning. This shit is wild.

## The Hardware

As of May 2025, BPD has 133 cameras deployed. That includes 83 license plate readers logging exactly where your car goes and 40 live-video fixed cameras.

But that isn't the scariest number.

They also bought three Wing Video Integration Gateways. Each one of these boxes can record 128 simultaneous external video feeds. We are talking about piping in feeds from local schools, businesses, and neighborhoods into the police network. All recorded locally and fed straight into Flock's platform.

## The Software

For those of you who aren't aware, Flock calls their platform a "situational awareness operating system". Here is what that actually fucking means.

FirstTwo Connection lets cops click on any nearby building and see the names, ages, and addresses of everyone who lives there, and it drops a link to their phone numbers. Not just the person they are looking for. Their neighbors too.

Convoy Analysis tracks groups of cars moving together. Visual Search lets them hunt for vehicles by physical description across all of their footage. They even wire 911 dispatch directly into the camera system.

Then there is Audio Talk Down. BPD has three Mobile Security Trailers deployed (as of September 2025). These things are wired into a platform that reads your plate, pulls up your personal info, and can broadcast audio directly at you. The city seriously signed a contract for this.

## The Funding

Here is where things get REALLY fun.

A California state program meant to stop organized retail theft funds a massive chunk of this. They sold this to the public as a way to stop shoplifting. Instead, California taxpayers are subsidizing a multi-million dollar mass surveillance network.

Bakersfield locked into a five-year deal paying $430,500 a year through May 2030. That deal has a $3 million spending ceiling. And the contract just links out to Flock's Terms of Service webpage! Flock can literally update the rules whenever they feel like it.

Technology was supposed to liberate us, not put us in a goddamn panopticon.

## What's Next

We still don't have the camera locations, privacy policies, or usage audits. BPD hasn't coughed any of that info up just yet. We're waiting for documents from KCSO, too.

We are not going to stop pulling on this thread.

P.S. We will be posting updates as these CPRA inquiries progress. If you want to stay in the loop, sign up for our (tracker free) newsletter over on our site:

https://anticap.makersfield.co/

P.P.S. Newsletter subscribers will get a link to the documents BPD has sent us when we send out our next issue. 😉

Broken In (t)

Just about the time a work boot starts to feel comfortable, it's usually pretty worn and time to replace. Despite the fact that I'm not usually crawling around or playing in the dirt, I manage to work a boot to the max.

Bakersfield, California 2014
#Broken_In #Hogwash_Book_Six #Bakersfield #California #Kern_County #Hogwash #Hog_Wash #photography
https://flic.kr/p/23eDKHk

A few things happening in #Bakersfield this week:

Tomorrow (March 3rd, 5:30 – 7:00pm at Salon Juarez): Ariel is running a digital security for activists training for Rapid Response Network Kern. Practical stuff, threat profiling, worth your time.

Wednesday (March 4th, 6:00pm at Dagny's Coffee Co.): Our monthly meetup. Bring an old laptop and a thumb drive if you've got one and we'll try to get Linux running on it.

March 15th: The Really Really Free Market is back at Pioneer Park, 9am–11am. Free haircuts, free mending, bring what you can take what you need. We'll have our table there, natch.

Full newsletter with a long read, some blocklists, and a dub mix:
https://comms.makersfield.co/archive/march-2026-reminders