New York lawmakers took bold, historic, and long-overdue action earlier this month when they passed a nation-leading bill that would establish a critical incident leave policy for the State Police.

The law would give troopers who have experienced traumatic events — including use-of-force incidents — up to 20 days of paid leave to begin the mental health recovery process without stigma, punishment, or pressure to return before they’re ready.

While this bill is not as far-reaching as originally proposed, it is a giant step in the right direction. As we observe PTSD Awareness Day on June 27, Gov. Kathy Hochul should use this annual milestone as a call to action to expeditiously sign this critical incident legislation into law.

As we saw this past spring when state troopers were involved in three

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