KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knoxville Police Department was selected to join the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Project (ABLE Project) as a partner agency, KPD said in a release.
The ABLE Project is meant to train officers on how they can hold peers accountable, helping departments avoid police misconduct and prevent mistakes. It is a national effort to create cultures where officers intervene to prevent misconduct as well as promote health and wellness.
Chief of Police Paul Noel announced, on the same day he was sworn in, that the police department would be applying.
KPD is the first agency in Tennesee to be accepted into the ABLE Project.
“I am thrilled that our agency has officially been accepted into the ABLE Project,” Noel said. “As I said before, ABLE will help our department create a culture that not only values personal and departmental accountability and employee wellness, but views those things as essential to our operations. Our department only stands to benefit from implementing this training and putting it into practice.”
As part of the implementation process, KPD must select participants to attend a four-day "Train-the-Trainer" session. Participants who successfully complete the session will receive ABLE instructor certificates as well as the relevant training material and are then certified to teach the core ABLE curriculum.
The ABLE training will be implemented into the KPD’s 2023 training schedule. ABLE Standards require that all officers and recruits receive the initial eight-hour ABLE training as well as two hours of training on an annual, reoccurring basis.
Jonathan Aronie, co-founder and chair of the ABLE Project’s Board of Advisors, praised KPD's decision to join the program.
“By teaching officers practical and evidence-based intervention strategies and tactics, ABLE educates and empowers officers to intervene in another officer’s conduct to prevent misconduct, reduce mistakes, and promote officer health and wellness. I’m thrilled (but not surprised) that Chief Noel so quickly brought this transformational program to the KPD. ABLE is a win/win for community members and officers," Aronie said.
The project was created by the Center for Innovations in Community Safety, in partnership with a global law firm, Sheppard Mullin. It is run by the Georgetown Law Center and was influenced by a psychologist who focused his work on the psychology of peace and violence.
It seeks to help police officers know how to stop other officers if they start showing unnecessarily harmful behavior. The New Orleans Police Department, where Noel previously worked, used the program to develop the "Ethical Policing is Courageous Peer Intervention Program."
"EPIC educates, empowers, and supports the officers on the streets to play a meaningful role in 'policing' one another. More importantly, EPIC played a significant role in the positive transformation of the NOPD," Noel said in a letter to Georgetown Law when applying for ABLE. "Now as the new Chief of Police of the City of Knoxville, I am very excited to have the opportunity to continue this work in Knoxville."
ABLE training is free for law enforcement agencies, but they must commit to creating a culture where police officers hold others accountable. According to ABLE's website, this is done through policy, training, support and accountability.
They said there are more than 250 ABLE-certified agencies across the U.S. and Canada, with more than 149,300 officers working at those agencies.
The Knoxville Area Urban League, the NAACP and Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon all said in letters they supported KPD joining the ABLE Program.
"We believe participation in the ABLE program at the Georgetown Law Center is needed and will enhance Knoxville Police Department officers to better engage with our community," the NAACP said in their letter.
They said that the program could give officers the tools they need to reduce misconduct, elevate accountability and build trust to better serve the Knoxville community.
"For decades, the Urban League has supported meaningful changes to law enforcement practices that disproportionately impact communities of color and low-income communities," said the Urban League in its letter. "Upon discussing the ABLE Program with Chief Paul Noel and reviewing the program standards, we are optimistic that participating by the Knoxville Police Department will support the expectation-setting, understanding and accountability needs to reform the departmental culture."