CANTON – SUNY Canton is training its police force to understand and address the issue of bias in law enforcement.

A recent training program held on campus offers a science-based approach to providing an understanding of the differences between implicit and explicit bias, the impact of biased policing on community members, and skills for fair, impartial and effective policing, according to a press release from SUNY Canton.

The State University of New York is the largest university system in the country to offer the training on its campuses.

“This course is considered the gold standard of its type within the law enforcement community,” said SUNY Canton University Police Chief Alan P. Mulkin. “It has been adopted by hundreds of international, federal, state and local agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the California Department of Justice and the Toronto Police Service.”

Mulkin, who conducted the seminar, has already been through a rigorous anti-bias training program that was held in January. He and 23 other SUNY campus representatives were chosen to learn about this new approach and pass their knowledge on to their officers.

“This is something that SUNY has been working on for quite some time,” he said. “It’s one of the SUNY Chancellor’s and SUNY Commissioner’s top priorities.”

The course was developed by Lorie Fridell, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Florida and has been endorsed by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

The training was attended by SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam University Police Officers, as well as a representative from the St. Lawrence County Sherriff’s Office.