Iowa law drops bias training requirement for police

A new Iowa law removes the requirement that law enforcement officers receive bias-prevention and racial or cultural awareness training.

HF 2711 instead mandates annual de-escalation training. The measure reverses a 2020 bipartisan reform that had added the bias-prevention requirement to Iowa Code section 80B.11G.

Cedar Rapids police officers fall under the statewide change, though no local department response has been issued.

Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP, said the substitution falls short. "A relationship that works together to ultimately do the best for our community, that’s what we should be focusing on. What we’ve seen in this last legislative session does not strengthen it," she told KCRG.

Des Moines police said they will keep offering the training anyway. "We’ve been doing diversity and cultural awareness training for decades. We had a written policy in place years before 2020, so we certainly see the value in that, and we’re going to continue it," public information officer Paul Parizek said.

The law took effect after the 2026 legislative session.