New law aims to help New York's first responders fight their 'implicit bias' - New York Post

Gov. Kathy Hochul was set to sign a bill into law Friday to give first responders more training when handling people with mental illness — including instructing rescuers how to fight their own “implicit bias.’’

“Too often, people experiencing a mental health crisis or suffering from addiction feel as though they have no one to turn to,” Hochul said in a statement.

“The pandemic has only made things harder for New Yorkers, and it is critical that our first responders and emergency services personnel have the proper training and resources to help those in need.”

The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. James Sanders, Jr. (D-Queens) and Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus (D-Brooklyn), calls for additional training that “may include but not be limited to” crisis intervention, the administration of the anti-overdose medicine naloxone and “implicit bias,” according to the bill’s language.

Implicit bias is the controversial notion that people can unintentionally discriminate against others when dealing with them.

Examples of this in real-world emergency-service calls might involve assuming all homeless people are drug addicts or minorities are violent, mental-health advocates say.

“Every human being on the planet is affected by implicit bias,’’ Frontus told The Post on Friday. “So it has nothing to do with your job or who you are. It’s something that we all need to be mindful of.’’

Sanders, Jr. declined comment on the bill when reached by The Post.

Union leaders for emergency workers in the state say their members have had some training on how best to deal with the mentally ill, as well as the administration of naloxone — though not so much with instruction against implicit bias.

“That bill is geared more to that state rather than New York City — we get a lot of that training already,’’ said Anthony Almojera, a lieutenant paramedic who is vice president of EMS Officers Union FDNY Local 3621, to the Post.

“The implicit bias training, I’d have to see the language in that because I am not sure what it entails.’’

Oren Barzilay, president of Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors Local 2507, insisted to The Post, “We don’t have any bias [involving] any creed, gender, race.

“We know we ought to treat everyone the same. So if they want to provide training for that, I’m all for it.”

But a person with extensive knowledge of how emergency services interact with the homeless said current training for EMTs and firefighters in New York City often falls short.

The new law could change that while helping to protect both the lives of first responders and the mentally ill, the source said.

“Any information or training helps,” the source said.

source: https://nypost.com/2022/05/06/law-aims-to-help-ny-first-responders-fight-implicit-bias/

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