Everett Police To Undergo Active Bystander Training

In a program that teaches officers if they “see something, to say something” Police in Everett, Washington will work with Georgetown University to build a culture of peer intervention to prevent harm. Here’s the explanation from Everett Police today.

The Everett Police Department has been accepted into the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project, Georgetown University Law Center’s national training and support initiative for U.S. law enforcement agencies committed to building a culture of peer intervention that prevents harm.

“ABLE presents the Everett Police Department with a unique opportunity to not only train, but to reinforce the importance of peer intervention.  Our department is well suited for a program like this where we already have a law enforcement culture that encourages peer intervention,” says Chief Dan Templeman. “The tenets of ABLE will provide our staff with additional tools to help prevent misconduct, avoid mistakes, and promote officer health and wellness. I am excited to be a part of this program and to begin rolling out training to all staff in 2021.”

By demonstrating agency commitment to transformational reform and with support from local community groups and elected leaders, the Everett Police join a select group of 30 other law enforcement agencies and statewide and regional training academies chosen to participate in the ABLE Project’s national rollout. To date, hundreds of agencies across the country have expressed interest in participating.

Backed by prominent civil rights and law enforcement leaders, the evidence-based, field-tested ABLE Project was developed by Georgetown Law’s Innovative Policing Program in collaboration with global law firm Sheppard Mullin LLP to provide practical active bystandership strategies and tactics to law enforcement officers.

Professor Christy Lopez, co-director of Georgetown Law’s Innovative Policing Program, which runs ABLE, explained: “The ABLE Project seeks to ensure every police officer in the United States has the opportunity to receive meaningful, effective active bystandership training, and to help agencies transform their approach to policing by building a culture that supports and sustains successful peer intervention to prevent harm.”

The ABLE Project is guided by a Board of Advisors comprised of civil rights, social justice, and law enforcement leaders, including Vanita Gupta, the president of the Leadership Council on Civil and Human Rights; Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department; Commissioner Danielle Outlaw of the Philadelphia Police Department; Dr. Ervin Staub, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the founder of the Psychology of Peace and Justice Program; and an impressive collection of other police leaders, rank and file officers, and social justice leaders.

• See the complete list of ABLE Project Board of Advisors
• Find more information on the ABLE Project
• See a list of the ABLE Standards to which participants adhere
• News articles on active bystandership and the ABLE Project