Texas Border Business
ALTON, Texas – The Alton 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.
By demonstrating a firm commitment to transformational reform with support from local community groups and elected leaders, The Alton Police Department joins a select group of more than 285 other law enforcement agencies and statewide and regional training academies from across North America.
Backed by prominent civil rights and law enforcement leaders, the evidence-based, field-tested ABLE Project was developed by Georgetown Law’s Center for Innovations in Community Safety in collaboration with global law firm Sheppard Mullin LLP to provide practical active bystandership strategies and tactics to law enforcement officers to prevent misconduct, reduce mistakes, and promote health and wellness.
ABLE gives officers the tools they need to overcome the innate and powerful inhibitors all individuals face when called upon to intervene in actions taken by their peers.
Dr. Jonathan B. Flores-Chief of Police said seeking inclusion to join the ABLE Project reflected important priorities for the Alton Police Department
“As law enforcement officers we are held to an elevated standard of trust. It is incumbent upon us to understand and adhere to those expectations both on and off duty. Our administration’s commitment is to continue to provide our staff with every available tool to help them succeed in the performance of their duties so that they can exceed the high expectations placed upon them. Joining the ABLE project is about accountability and solidifies our agencies commitment to serve our community at the highest level”. Dr. Jonathan B. Flores-Chief of Police
Those backing the Alton Police Department’s application to join the program included The North Mission Church of Christ and the Rio Grande Valley Empowerment Zone Corporation, who wrote letters of support.
Professor Christy Lopez, co-director of Georgetown Law’s Center for Innovations in Community Safety, 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.”
Chair of the ABLE Project Board of Advisors, Sheppard Mullin partner Jonathan Aronie, added: “Intervening in another’s action is harder than it looks after the fact, but it’s a skill we all can learn. And, frankly, it’s a skill we all need – police and non-police. ABLE teaches that skill.”
The ABLE Project is guided by a Board of Advisors comprised of civil rights, social justice, and law enforcement leaders, including 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 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.
ABLE Project Train-The-Trainer events take place every month and the Alton Police Department has two ABLE certified trainers on staff. Over the coming months, all of the Department’s officers will receive 8 hours of evidence-based active bystandership education designed not only to prevent harm, but to change the culture of policing.
For more information on the ABLE Project, review the program’s website at: https://www.law.georgetown.edu/cics/able/
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