California reaches reform deal with Bakersfield police condemned over deadly force

Reforms to be implemented six years after Guardian investigation found Kern county to be America's deadliest for police killings

California's justice department has announced a court-enforced reform settlement with the Bakersfield police department, following a years-long state civil rights inquiry initiated after a 2015 Guardian investigation found that police in the state's Kern county were the deadliest in America.

The settlement, known as a stipulated judgment or consent decree", was announced on Monday by the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, more than four years after the department commenced its investigation, and requires the police department to revise and reform its policies, overseen by an independent monitor.