On July 25, 2021, Kern County Sheriff's Office Deputy Phillip Campas was killed in the line of duty.

[4] Chief Deputy Justin Fleeman unsuccessfully contested Sheriff Donny Youngblood in the June 2018 primary election.

[7][8] In response to his firing, Fleeman filed a wrongful termination lawsuit which he hopes will unfold in court and result in "people seeing I was actually truthful during the campaign".

[7] The court granted the county's move to dismiss on the ground that Fleeman failed to state a cognizable claim under Labor Code Section 232.5.

[10] In December 2010, Jose Lucero, a recovering drug addict with mental health issues, died after a confrontation with Kern County Sheriff's deputies.

In November 2012, Lucero's family was awarded a $4.5 million judgment in a wrongful death lawsuit against the deputies, the sheriff's office, and Kern County.

One settlement, reported to be in the amount of $1 million, was paid out to a survivor of a sexual assault committed by Kern County Sheriff's Deputy Gabriel Lopez.

The Kern County Sheriff's office has been found to have a longstanding program of attempting cash payoffs to women who have accused deputies of sexual assault.