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By SARAH BRADSHAW http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/apexchange/2013/04/21/ny--police-training-disabilities.html POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) — New York state is rolling out first-of-its-kind sensitivity training statewide to help some police officers better identify and interact with people with developmental disabilities. The First Responders Disability Awareness Training, offered this week in Dutchess County, provides training exercises and protocols on how to assist individuals across the disability spectrum. The Train the Trainer session is open to all in law enforcement, with one stipulation: They must share the course with their police agency. The training, through Niagara University, is not mandated by the state. However, a council under Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office made the course a funding priority and stressed its importance. "The time has come" for this type of training, said Sheila Carey, executive director of the state Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, which funded the program and extended the initial $650,000 three-year grant through 2015. New York state has no overarching protocols for arresting and criminally charging suspects with developmental disabilities, said state Division of Criminal Justice Services spokeswoman Janine Kava, adding "agencies have their own guidelines." And state police training on mental illness and developmental disabilities —a physical or mental impairment —is one and the same, state police said. That needs to change, advocates for people with developmental disabilities said, including those at a national nonprofit called The Arc. People with autism and low IQs, for example, are not mentally ill and the difference is critical for law enforcement to understand, they said. A push for awareness comes after the state's movement away from locked facilities, placing the disabled into residential areas, jobs and other community settings. This created new challenges for law enforcement, blurring the line between the duties of police and social service agencies. Ultimately, police are trained that public safety is No. 1. "The first priority of the police is to make sure that scenes are secure and everyone is safe," said Capt. John Watterson of the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office. "If you have someone threatening other people's —and their own —safety, then they must be secured, even if they have a disability." State police said troopers have adequate training, specifically mentioning mental-health training that exposes them to "all different types of disabilities," said a state police spokesman, Sgt. Kern Swoboda. However, mental illness and a medical condition such as depression are different than a mental disability, a below-average mental capability, health officials say. Someone with a mental illness may be very competent intellectually, but someone with a cognitive disability may have issues with self-care, language, mobility, learning, self-direction and independent living. Often, the two conditions are confused, potentially exposing law enforcement agencies to lawsuits. When someone with a mental or physical impairment is interrogated as a witness, in need of emergency services, a suspect of crimes or the target of a citizen complaint, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act protects them from discrimination. Police misconduct puts municipalities at risk for costly civil-rights lawsuits. Moreover, the failure of a city or county to properly train its officers is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to International Association of Chiefs of Police, a nonprofit membership organization of police executives. During First Responders Disability Awareness Training, project coordinator David Whalen defines disabilities for officers, including stigma and perceptions, and gives participants important communication techniques, he said. So far, the First Responders Disability Awareness course has been held in the counties of Erie, Suffolk, Albany, Monroe, Oswego and St. Lawrence. On Tuesday, the training wraps up in Westchester County before heading to the Poughkeepsie academy. Whalen studied New York's basic police training manuals. He said police receive two hours on autism, Alzheimer's disease, blindness and deafness, but not intellectual disabilities. In comparison, 14 hours are given on mental illness, he said.