UPD to Participate in the ABLE Project

The Urbana Police Department is proud to announce a partnership with the Georgetown University Law Center for Innovations in Community Safety (CICS) to implement the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project. 

Georgetown Law CICS partnered with global law firm Sheppard Mullin to create the ABLE Project, preparing officers to successfully intervene to prevent misconduct, avoid police mistakes, and promote officer health and wellness. 

ABLE builds upon a training developed by Dr. Ervin Staub, the Founding Director of the UMass Amherst Psychology of Peace and Violence Program, to help police officers stop unnecessary harmful behavior by fellow officers. ABLE teaches officers how to successfully intervene and protects those who do intervene. It also authorizes and empowers law enforcement to intervene in another officer’s action regardless of their rank.  

The Urbana Police Department adopted the ABLE Project training at the request of Interim Chief of Police Richard Surles and was supported by the Urbana City Council, Mayor Diane Marlin, City Administrator Carol Mitten, President Minnie Pearson of the NAACP Champaign County Branch, and Superintendent Jennifer Ivory-Tatum from Urbana School District #116. 

In the coming months, the first delivery of ABLE training will be provided to Urbana police officers, who received 8 hours of ABLE instruction. Department-wide implementation of ABLE training will continue until all sworn personnel have been trained. For more information about the ABLE Project, please visit the website here.