BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) --- Before they head into the streets to meet with prostitutes, a group of men and women first gather in prayer and ask for divine guidance.

"Our ultimate goal is to get them off the street," said Pastor Doug Bennett, founder of Magdalene Hope.

According to the state Attorney General Office, California continues to be a magnet for all forms of human trafficking. The sex trade is a major player. And women who get ensnared can be working in Bakersfield one day and be sent elsewhere the next day by their handlers, said Bennett.

Magdalene Hope is a faith based group that reaches out to those who work in the sex trade. For the past three years, members hit the streets twice a month and try to befriend prostitutes no matter where they may come from.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) -- Police are investigating a shooting involving an officer.

Officers from the Bakersfield Police Department were called to keep the peace/check the welfare Monday morning at a residence in the 8300 block of White Squall Ln.

The woman who called for their help told officers she had been living at the residence with her mother and 43-year-old Edward Fiad and she wanted to pick up her belongings.

There was some sort of disturbance at the residence Sunday evening during which her mother was arrested for public intoxication and she did not plan to continue staying there. But she said Fiad was armed the previous evening and she was afraid of him.

While officers accompanied her, she opened the home's front door and saw Fiad sitting in a chair, armed with a handgun and she ran away.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - The starting gun fires Sunday morning just before 11 a.m. in Santa Rosa, setting the riders of the Tour of California peloton on a collision course with the "race of truth" Thursday in Bakersfield: the individual time trial.

The 18.4-mile race in Bakersfield could decide the overall winner of the race, the permiere stage race in North America.

Racers consider the time trial the "race of truth" because it pits lone riders against the clock.

The riders work as teams and ride in groups during the other, longer stages.

Before the showdown with the clock in Bakersfield, however, the riders in the 2012 Tour of California must first cover four stages, all over 100 miles long.

Stage 1 on Sunday in Santa Rosa covers almost 116 miles. The next day in San Francisco, racers face a 117 mile course; followed by 115 miles in San Jose on Tuesday.