Bakersfield authorities made 211 arrests, recovered 127 stolen vehicles and seized four firearms during the first six weeks of a crackdown effort between local police and the California Highway Patrol aimed at reducing crime in some cities in California, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office announced Tuesday.
Newsom announced last week that he would send California Highway Patrol officers to Bakersfield as part of an expansion of an anti-crime campaign that began in the Bay Area earlier this year. It turns out they were already in town and had been for several weeks.
In February, he sent 120 CHP officers to Oakland to deal with an increase in robberies and violence amid growing concerns about crime across the state.
Officials identified Kern County — home to Bakersfield — as the second location for the crackdown, in part because the area has higher rates of violent and property crimes and more arrests than the county average. State.
“Working alongside local law enforcement, the state will continue to step up its efforts to take down criminals and make Bakersfield safer for everyone,” Newsom said in a prepared statement.
Over the past six weeks, officers have focused on reducing car thefts, combating retail crime and strengthening traffic enforcement – a key aspect of reducing crime, a Chief Rodney Ellison, commander of the CHP Central Division, told the Times.
Saturation patrols, which draw a heavy police presence to a specific area, have been a tool for Central Valley officers in recent weeks, Ellison said.
During a daylong enforcement effort, authorities issued 230 citations, most for speeding, and arrested three people on suspicion of crimes. Other enforcement measures are in the works, officials said.
“When you live in a crime-riddled area and you start seeing patrol cars driving around, it gives you confidence that it’s safe,” Ellison said. “And that’s what it’s really about: making the community a safer place for people.” »
Rising crime in recent years has been a source of intense political pressure on California Democrats. Highly visible crimes such as burglaries and seizures have reinforced critics’ complaints about the state’s criminal justice policies, particularly Proposition 47, which classifies certain drug possession offenses and nonviolent misdemeanors as misdemeanors against goods worth not more than $950.
In Bakersfield, Kern County’s most populous city, homicide rates climbed 36% between 2020 and 2021, reaching a high of 60 in 2021. That number fell to 37 in 2023, but homicides in the city remained about 50% higher than before. a decade ago, according to statewide crime data.
Car thefts increased by nearly 67% between 2019 and 2022. Commercial thefts have also increased over the past decade, statistics show.
Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh applauded the early results of police efforts in the city, saying in a prepared statement that it speaks to “the successful relationship… between local and state partners to keep families safe of Bakersfield.
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