The University of Pittsburgh Police Department’s officers, supervisors and dispatchers -- including those at the University’s regional campuses -- have received training as part of a national training and support initiative for U.S. law enforcement agencies committed to building a culture of peer intervention that prevents harm.
Pitt Police has been a part of the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project, operated by the Georgetown University Law Center, since 2021. In doing so, the department became part of a select group of law enforcement agencies and statewide and regional training academies from across the country participating in the project. To be a part of ABLE, Pitt Police had to demonstrate a firm commitment to transformational reform with support from local community groups and elected leaders.
In the ABLE training, members of the Pitt Police Department are taught leadership principles and how to effectively intervene in actions taken by their peers, regardless of rank. The goal is to prevent misconduct, reduce costly mistakes, and promote the mental and physical health of our department members.
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WATCH: Civil Rights Advocate and State College, Pa., native Roy Austin talks about the importance of ABLE:
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Pitt Police have had their own duty-to-intervene policy in place since December 2019, and implementation of ABLE Project training began in 2021. In September 2022, the department renewed its commitment to the program by voluntarily incorporating the additional standards of updating our agency sponsors on our progress, formalizing our implementation of ABLE in writing, and making even more of an investment is employee wellness.
Since its implementation, Pitt Police have received positive feedback from their own members and the Pitt community.
About ABLE
The evidence-based and field-tested ABLE Project is backed by prominent civil rights and law enforcement leaders and 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 to prevent misconduct, reduce mistakes, and promote health and wellness.
Since its inception, 314 agencies have been ABLE trained in 41 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces, according to 2023 data. At Pitt, several officers can provide ABLE training, and all officers receive eight hours of evidence-based active bystandership education designed not only to prevent harm, but to change the culture of policing. Pitt Police Lt. Brooke Riley and Officers Jamie Jamie Cunningham and Dan Trimbur are certified ABLE trainers. All members of the department also receive an annual, two-hour refresher course.
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.”
According to Chief James Loftus, Pitt Police’s inclusion in the ABLE Project reflects important priorities for the department and commitment to the department’s core values: integrity, respect, service and fairness.
In the department’s original application to the Project, it received letters of support from Pitt community members, including the Black Action Society and University Senate.
Why it’s necessary
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.”
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 and other police leaders, rank and file officers, and social justice leaders.
More
- information about ABLE standards to which every participating agency must adhere.
- A complete list of ABLE agencies.
