According to the British newspaper The Guardian, more people have died at the hands of law enforcement this year in Kern County than in New York City, which has 10 times the population. In fact the 13 deaths so far in Kern County in 2015 make it the highest per capita rate of deaths due to deadly force by police and sheriffs in the.
Last week the paper the launched a new five part series titled "The County", which a critical look at law enforcement here, including the Bakersfield Police Department and the Kern County Sheriff’s Office. In it they paint a picture of agencies with a cavalier attitude and a lack of outside accountability.
Are their claims justified, or are law enforcement officials just doing their job in a county with a high rate of violent crime? The project’s lead author Jon Swaine joined us on Valley Edition to take a critical look at their findings. We also invited representatives from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office and Bakersfield Police Department to comment, but they declined, saying they would reserve comment until all five parts of the Guardian series are published.