Dallas Police Adopt New Training; Critics Say It’s a Waste
The Dallas Weekly
By Steven Monacelli
DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Weekly) The Dallas Police Department has adopted a new training program designed to encourage officers to intervene in and speak up about the misconduct of fellow officers. It’s known as Active Bystandership in Law Enforcement, or “ABLE” for short.
Proponents believe it will help break down the “blue wall of silence,” the informal code among police officers to not report on a colleague’s errors, misconducts, or crimes, including police brutality.
The ABLE concept has grown in popularity in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin. It’s been adopted by over 70 law enforcement agencies across the country with the goal of encouraging peer intervention among officers to reduce incidents of misconduct.