Members of Renz Consulting and the Adirondack Diversity Initiative’s Community Policing Team gather for a meeting in October 2020. Clockwise from front left are Ronnell Higgins, Mike Lawlor, Pete Nelson, Lorenzo Boyd, Nicole Hylton-Patterson and Clifton Harcum. (Provided photo — ADI)

SARANAC LAKE — In a letter to all law enforcement and local government officials in the Adirondack region, the Adirondack Diversity Initiative announced its Community Policing Initiative, designed to help local law enforcement meet the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) requirements of Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 203: New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative.

Renz Consulting LLC, in collaboration with ADI’s community policing team and police liaisons, will provide resources and training to support local law enforcement agencies in their efforts to adopt policing reform plans in compliance with EO203, due by April 1.

Enrollment for the program is open until March 12. Space is limited to 60 participants. These services are being offered at no cost to agencies. The ADI is a state-funded entity based in Saranac Lake.

“At ADI we don’t do diversity ‘training’ — something with a beginning and end. We develop cultural consciousness, which is a lifelong practice,” ADI Director Nicole Hylton-Patterson said in a press release. “Cultural consciousness allows us to see ourselves as part of larger systems and structures that shape our values, beliefs and biases that are inherently human. Cultural consciousness is the groundwork of transformational justice.”

The 2021 trainings are designed to address specific requirements in EO203 including law enforcement agencies’ need to reduce racial inequities in policing; reform and modernize policing strategies, policies, procedures and practices; develop and implement practices to better address the needs of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities; increase the cultural competence of police personnel; increase police-community engagement; and decrease negative relationships between police officers and BIPOC individuals within the Adirondack region.

“This is about partnership with police, not opposition,” said Pete Nelson, an ADI Core Team member who is serving as a police liaison for ADI. “I think we can really help make the bonds between communities and police agencies stronger and more equitable.”

ADI will host three Zoom meetings for law enforcement and government officials who wish to learn more and ask questions about the initiative:March 3 at 3 p.m., March 5 at 1 p.m. and March 8 at 11 a.m. More Zoom meetings for the general public will be scheduled for later in March and April.

To learn more about the Community Policing Initiative, to enroll in the program, or to register for a Zoom meeting, law enforcement and legislative representatives are invited to visit the ADI website at www.diversityadk.org/community-wellness-initiative or contact ADI’s administrative manager Melanie Reding at mreding@adirondack.org.