Police officers will be required to have a bachelor's degree or be at least 25 years old before starting their careers on the force under a law proposed by a California legislator, The Sacramento Bee has reported.
Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, a Democrat, made the proposal earlier this week, saying that "these jobs are complex, they're difficult, and we should not just hand them over to people who haven't fully developed themselves."
If his measure becomes law, California would become the state with the oldest age requirement for police officers.
California law currently requires police officers to be at least 18 years old with a high school diploma or equivalent, and state highway patrol officers must be at least 20.
Jones-Sawyer said his changes could cut down the number of police shootings, citing a 2010 study that found cities with more college-educated police were less likely to resort to force during confrontations with suspects.
A broader study carried out more recently by the National Police Foundation nonprofit research organization showed that officers who had a college degree used force less often and had fewer complaints against them than their peers who did not go to college.
Jones-Sawyer emphasized to The Sacramento Bee that "this could be the beginning of changing the entire way that policing is done on the front end," adding that "Then we can let the bad cops retire on the back end."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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