NYS Senator Eric Adams Announces Signing Into Law of His Peace Officer Training Bill, Which Regulates, Upgrades, and Streamlines Training Requirements for Peace Officers

NYS Senator Eric Adams’ bill S6102A has been signed into law by the Governor. The legislation updates and modernizes the prior law (passed in 1980) to increase training standards for peace officers in New York State.

 Senator Adams states: “The environment in which Peace Officers carry out their functions, powers, and duties has changed drastically since 1980, when the original training requirements were enacted. Peace officers now enforce a variety of local and State laws, are authorized to use force and make warrantless arrests and searches, and can be assigned to perform many of the same functions as police officers. Therefore, the mandated limitation on their preparation became outdated.

 “Police officers receive almost 500 hours of training and at least 160 hours of supervised field training, while peace officer training had been limited by previous law to an inadequate 35 hours (and only 10 hours in the case of a part-time peace officer). Although peace officers may not require as much training as police officers, the previous 35-hour and 10-hour training courses were wholly insufficient to prepare peace officers to carry out their functions.

 “My legislation, now signed into law by the Governor, will make minimum training requirements for peace officers commensurate with the powers such officers are authorized to exercise, replacing outdated standards that placed both the peace officer and the public at risk.”