The Bakersfield police may finally reform. But we must hold them to account | Josth Stenner, Daulton Jones, Jorge Ramirez and Joey Williams

The California attorney general announced a consent decree with the Bakersfield police. We hope that we are given resources to make sure that the police follow through

When we first reached out to the California department of justice (DoJ) over five years ago, Francisco Serna, a 73-year-old man with dementia, had just been killed by Bakersfield police officer Reagan Selman, capping one of the most violent years our city had ever seen.

In a small Faith in the Valley Kern office, above Dagny's coffee shop, leaders affected by the brutality of our local police force huddled over a conference call telephone for an emotional and exasperated call to the department of justice. Having whittled away all local officials even willing to meet with them, family members who lost loved ones to Bakersfield police department (BPD) violence shared their pain with department of justice officials, hopeful for a day when they would actually be heard.