Ariel Dyer is the co-founder of the Anti-Capitalist Computer Club, a grassroots group focusing on technology and digital privacy in Bakersfield.<\/p>\n
Dyer and other members of the group independently requested and obtained dozens of records from the Bakersfield Police Department discussing implementing the cameras, the cost going into them, who approved them and more than one million rows of \u201craw license plate search data.\u201d<\/p>\n
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BPD\u2019s records division did deny one of the group\u2019s document requests pertaining to where all 133 FLOCK cameras are located. Dyer said BPD cited \u201cpublic safety\u201d as a concern.<\/p>\n
Dyer, a librarian with Bakersfield College, said she\u2019s been concerned with privacy issues for a while and FLOCK cameras play a role in those worries. She said those privacy concerns were exacerbated by the nationwide ICE raids that occurred last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI realized, wow, this is really crucial to know the landscape and to equip (and) empower people to be able to move through it,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n
Dyer and other members of the Anti-Capitalist Computer Club spoke at a city council meeting on Wednesday, advocating for the implementation of FLOCK cameras to be halted or reduced throughout Bakersfield.<\/p>\n
The club is specifically working to halt any expansion to the work and end the Flock Safety contract, for the city to publish the camera locations and usage logs, hold public hearing before any contract renewals and ensure no more surveillance technology will be used without public hearings, voter approval and annual audits, according to the group\u2019s website.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Opposition to FLOCK cameras being used in cities has been growing over the past several months.<\/p>\n The surveillance use has been a topic of conversation nationwide and in the pockets of Kern County, too.<\/p>\n In April, the City of Shafter\u2019s City Council approved the expansion<\/a> of their FLOCK license plate reader system. Residents in Ridgecrest have shown up to city council meetings urging city leadership to oppose the camera in their town.<\/p>\n Out of the many reports Dyer and the club received from the city, she said the city hasn\u2019t been conducting audits on what information the technology collects.<\/p>\n That \u201cis one of the things we\u2019re asking of the city, is to start conducting those, start publishing that information and being transparent,\u201d she told 17 News. \u201cNationally we\u2019re seeing a lot of news about misuse around this technology, it\u2019s such a powerful and invasive technology.\u201d<\/p>\n Shafter City Council approves expansion of Flock license plate reader system <\/a><\/p>\n Dyer spoke at the Bakersfield city council meeting on Wednesday. She said the last time she addressed city staff Bakersfield officials said the information captured by FLOCK cameras is not shared with ICE.<\/p>\n But she said because there are no audits being conducted, there isn\u2019t a way to know that for sure.<\/p>\n \u201cIf our data sits in Flock\u2019s national network \u2013 and that\u2019s not a hypothetical if \u2013 it does sit in Flock\u2019s national network, thousands of other police agencies can search it,\u201d Dyer told the council. \u201cOur individual whereabouts can reach ICE without BPD ever choosing to share them.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that the decision to implement FLOCK cameras was not voted on or agreed to by the public.<\/p>\n Bakersfield City Council adopts fiscal year 2026-2027 budget <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe Anti-Capitalist Computer Club believes in abolishing the use and sharing of surveillance tech by government and private entities, but we also believe in transparency and communication, neither of which have been afforded Bakersfield residents,\u201d Dyer said. \u201cSo, we\u2019re asking the city to stop funding a surveillance state that we have not agreed to.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the reports obtained from the city, in September 2025 the city purchased three annual subscriptions for the FLOCK camera system totaling $75,000<\/a> \u2013 $25,000 fee per year.<\/p>\n