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

An LAPD officer.
(Image credit: Apu Gomes/Getty Images)

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, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.