New California police reform laws will provide 'more accountability' for officers

(Image credit: Apu Gomes/Getty Images)

published 30 September 2021

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed eight police reform bills into law on Thursday, with the sweeping new measures doing everything from raising the minimum age of officers from 18 to 21 to enacting statewide standards on use of rubber bullets and tear gas used for crowd control.

Newsom signed the bills days after congressional bipartisan negotiations for police reform legislation fell apart. "I want folks not to lose hope, that just because things aren't happening in Washington, D.C., that we can't move the needle here, not just in our state but in states all across the country," he said.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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