Implicit Bias Training Comes to Burlington

The Burlington Police Department is proud to bring Dr. Bryant Marks, Sr. to Burlington to provide Implicit Bias Training and Education to every employee of the Burlington Police Department, both sworn and civilian. “Implicit Bias” refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner.

Dr. Marks is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Morehouse College, Founding Director of the National Center on Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, and also served on President Obama’s Board of Advisors.

“I commend our Burlington Police Department for continuing its work to adopt Twenty First Century Policing techniques to ensure officers safely and effectively serve our community,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger of the training. “Training officers and community members to recognize and mitigate implicit biases is just one of many productive steps the Department has taken under the leadership of Chief del Pozo, including adopting de-escalation techniques, increasing the use of foot patrols, and hiring new officers who reflect the diversity of the Burlington community. I encourage Burlingtonians to attend the Community Session, and to learn more about this challenging but important topic.”

Dr. Marks’ Community Session on February 7th, from 6-9pm in Contois Auditorium is open to the general public. Members of City Council, the Police Commission, Black Lives Matter, City of Burlington Human Resources, Chittenden County Public Defenders, and UVM have RSVP’d that they expect to attend. Seats are very limited. Please contact Constance Crisp to RSVP or for further questions: ccrisp@bpdvt.org, (802)540-2369.