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Contents
- Abstract
- New Orleans’ Innovation: EPIC
- A National Platform: ABLE
- The ABLE Standards
- Community Accountability
- Meaningful Training
- Implementation and Program Coordination
- Supporting Intervention in Policy and Practice
- Health and Wellness
- No New Intervention Reporting Requirements
- Data and Research
- Sustainability and Commitment
- Ongoing Research and Evaluation
- Conclusion
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Abstract
In recent years, law enforcement agencies have come under severe criticism for officer misconduct and mistakes. As a result, changes have been imposed upon these agencies from outside of law enforcement. These changes include mandated policies, budget allocations, and in extreme cases, consent decrees. A national model launched in 2020, the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project seeks to give agencies the tools they need to create culture change internally by embracing officer peer intervention as a tool to prevent misconduct, avoid mistakes, and promote health and wellness. This article describes the following regarding ABLE: (a) history and program development timeline, (b) programmatic structure and objectives, and (c) an examination of ABLE’s potential to help law enforcement agencies create meaningful, positive culture change to improve public health and safety using active bystandership.
Law enforcement agencies across the United States face a crisis of public trust, spurred in part by high-profile incidents of harmful, and sometimes fatal, police actions. This article examines the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project, an approach to strengthen the relationship between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve by creating a culture of self-regulating behavior and peer intervention within law enforcement agencies.
In the spring and summer of 2020, law enforcement agencies across the United States faced large-scale protests following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With these protests came renewed conversations about police conduct and the relationship between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve (Balingit et al., 2020; Iati et al., 2020). Many agencies were forced to grapple with the question of why a police officer used deadly force contrary to department policy, and why three other officers watched the incident unfold for more than 9 min without intervening (Bella, 2021; Nakamura, 2021).
The officers of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) had...