Amid calls for police reform in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, California lawmakers set out to raise education standards for incoming law enforcement officers. Five years later — as California faces a widespread shortage of police officers — those reforms are being debated once again.

In 2020, former Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer introduced a bill that would have required prospective police officers ages 18 to 25 to earn a bachelor’s degree before entering the police force. A growing body of research shows that college-educated law enforcement officers tend to use less force and exercise better decision making.

The bill was ultimately revised after it was criticized as too restrictive by law enforcement and labor leaders. In an updated version, signed into law the following year, lawmakers agreed to raise the minimum age of a police officer to 21 and they asked local police and school officials to create recommendations for new higher education requirements.

This year, Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, is proposing a new bill to establish education standards based on those recommendations, but some law enforcement and criminal justice reform advocates are skeptical — albeit for different reasons.

Starting in 2031, Irwin’s new law would require incoming officers to get a policing certificate, associate degree or bachelor’s degree, although there are some exceptions within 36 months of graduating from a police academy. It also creates a law enforcement recruitment task force to identify and recruit candidates for law enforcement agencies throughout the state.

In an interview with CalMatters, Jones-Sawyer said the current bill by Irwin undermines the original intent behind his 2021 law by allowing a loophole for incoming officers to satisfy the education requirement through a certificate, prior military experience or out-of-state law enforcement experience.

Some policing experts, such as former justice department official Arif Alikhan, echoed those concerns and said the exceptions swallow the whole. “It completely obviates the need to have any educational background,” said Alikhan. “Officers who have a college education tend to perform better.”

Representatives from some law enforcement unions, by contrast, think the bill still goes too far. Dustin Smith, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, said the new requirements “would be catastrophic to staffing statewide,” limiting the supply of incoming officers.

Those concerns haven’t stopped the bill from sailing through the Legislature, where it has received widespread support from many law enforcement agencies. It’s supported by all of California’s statewide law enforcement advocacy groups, including the California Police Chiefs Association, the California State Sheriff’s Association, the California Association of Highway Patrolmen and the umbrella labor organization that lobbies on behalf of police unions, the Peace Officers Research Association of California. It has received no formal opposition.

Democratic lawmakers at odds with one another over new standards

In introducing his bill, Jones-Sawyer viewed a college education as paramount to law enforcement training because it would expose incoming officers to new perspectives, healthy debate and critical thinking skills.

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

Instead of requiring an associate degree in modern policing, as Jones-Sawyer said he intended, the new bill allows incoming police officers to meet the education standards with four years of military or out-of-state law enforcement experience. While Jones-Sawyer intended to carve out certain exceptions for people with prior specialized military or law enforcement experience, they would have only been given some credit — not all.

New officers also have the option of attaining a “professional policing certificate” from an accredited college or university, although that curriculum has not yet been developed.

The new bill “does not make policing better, it makes it devolve back into what it used to be,” said Jones-Sawyer. Irwin maintained that the bill advances his efforts and will help police officers improve themselves as they rise through the ranks.

Many police chiefs and sheriffs view the bill as a meaningful way to raise education standards while affording incoming officers the flexibility to meet them.

In May, Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna wrote a letter to state Sen. Jesse Arreguín, D-Oakland and chair of the Senate’s public safety committee, arguing in favor of Irwin’s bill. The sheriff’s office once required all applicants to have a bachelor’s degree, wrote Luna, but the requirement was “short-lived” because the office saw “an immediate decline in applicants by about 50%.”

Luna said Irwin’s bill is a “more workable, more inclusive path forward” because it includes exceptions for those with non-academic experience.

Although the vast majority of local law enforcement agencies nationwide only require a high school diploma, having a college degree can often create more opportunities for better pay and promotions.

Police officer shortage: truth or myth?

All across the state, law enforcement officials say staffing is an ongoing problem, which more education requirements might exacerbate. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office is short roughly 1,500 officers as of June 1, according to spokesperson Miesha McClendon. The office was able to respond to recent protests through the support of staff from other areas of law enforcement, including its jails and detective division, McClendon said.

In rural areas, such as Plumas County in the northeast corner of the state, Undersheriff Chad Hermann said a single officer is sometimes responsible for covering communities as far as 70 miles apart. If that officer needs to make an arrest and drive a suspect to jail, a town could spend hours without any nearby police on duty, he said.

Sheriffs and police officers say the shortage is due to several factors, including low wages in some communities, an aging workforce and negative perceptions of police following high-profile instances of misconduct. Departments are offering starting bonuses and other incentives, such as better benefits, as a way to recruit new officers.

Some agencies gave record-breaking raises to officers coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. In some places, including the California Highway Patrol, entry-level officers can expect six-figure salaries and top notch benefits.