Proposed CA Law Would Impose New Education Requirements On Police

Aspiring California law enforcement officers could face new education requirements in the coming years if a new bill becomes law.

Assembly Bill 992 proposes that newly certified police officers obtain a college degree, a professional policing certificate, or have equivalent military or out-of-state law enforcement experience within 36 months of getting their basic certification from the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, according to the bill text.

An exemption includes those who worked as officers for state hospitals.

The measure would take effect Jan. 1, 2031, but officers already working for public agencies in the Golden State or enrolled in a police school before the end of 2030 won't be affected. Officers already working for public agencies will also be grandfathered in.

Calls for police reform have been loud since George Floyd was murdered in 2020. AB 992, authored by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), has made it further than other initiatives that were previously deemed too restrictive by some groups.

In 2020, former Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer proposed a bill that would have required aspiring police officers 19 to 25 to earn a bachelor's degree.

Jones-Sawyer's bill was called too restrictive, but an updated version of the bill, which required the minimum age of police officers to rise to 21, was signed into law in 2021.

Irwin’s bill seeks to establish education requirements by addressing the shortcomings of Jones-Sawyer’s proposal, though Jones-Sawyer remains skeptical, arguing that Irwin's bill offers too many loopholes.

“We keep looking at law enforcement as if anybody can do it,” Jones-Sawyer told CalMatters. “No. You need a certain type of person to have the skills and ability to deal with modern-day policing.”

Police expert and former justice department official Arif Alikhan expressed similar sentiments.

Alikhan said that those loopholes completely remove "the need to have any educational background."

"Officers who have a college education tend to perform better," Alikhan said.