Sheriff's Office Hosts Implicit Bias Train-the-Trainer Course

Dutchess County Sheriff Adrian “Butch “Anderson is pleased to announce that the Sheriff’s Office hosted a three-day “Implicit Bias Train-the-Trainer Course” sponsored by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (NYS DCJS).

The course was held March 10-12, 2021 at the Sheriff’s Office Law Enforcement Center and was presented by master instructors from the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department and the City of Schenectady Police Department. Twenty-five law enforcement officers from across the state attended the training. These officers are now able to return to their respective police agencies and present the implicit bias training to their officers.

Sheriff Anderson said, “We are extremely pleased that we were able to partner with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and their instructional staff to host this training. We recognize the importance of this training as all of us in law enforcement continue to work to improve public trust, especially within our diverse communities.”

In June of 2020, Sheriff Anderson and County Executive Marcus Molinaro established the Dutchess County Police Reform and Modernization Collaborative that was tasked with helping every town, village, and city to enact broad based police reform. Part of this reform plan included providing police officers with training on evidence-based policing strategies, including but not limited to, procedural justice and implicit bias awareness training.

In October of 2020, a countywide training initiative was implemented to provide all Dutchess County police agencies with the opportunity to provide their officers with procedural justice and implicit bias training. With the support of Dutchess County government and City of Poughkeepsie government, the Sheriff’s Office partnered with the City of Poughkeepsie Police to spearhead this training countywide initiative.

A cadre of instructors from various police agencies throughout Dutchess County will continue to teach alongside the program’s master instructors, Lt. Sean McCarthy and Lt. John Zeltmann, both from the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department. Through this initiative, procedural justice and implicit bias training will continue to be conducted at the Sheriff’s Office through December of 2021.

Sheriff Anderson announced that law enforcement officers from the following agencies completed the Implicit Bias

Train-the-Trainer Course:
Dutchess County Participating Agencies
Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office
Town of Poughkeepsie Police
Town of East Fishkill Police
Town of Hyde Park Police
Village of Wappingers Falls Police
Village of Rhinebeck Police

Other Participating Agencies:
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police
SUNY University Police
NYS Office of Court Administration
Ulster County Sheriff’s Office
Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office
Orange County Probation Department
Rockland County Police Academy
City of Kingston Police
Town of Saugerties Police
Town of New Paltz Police
Town of Newburgh Police
Town of Montgomery Police
Town of Somers Police
Town of Harrison Police
Town of North Castle Police
Town of Guilderland Police
Village of Cooperstown Police