Next month, the Dallas Police Department will become one of the first Texas cities to go through the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) program, which aims to improve police culture by teaching officers how to prevent harm and misconduct by their coworkers.
The program is a nationally coordinated initiative from the Georgetown Innovative Policing Program that s also intended to promote officer health and wellness. The city entered into an agreement between the University of North Texas at Dallas and DPD to implement the program.
The program was developed in part by Ervin Staub, a psychology professor who created active bystander training for the Los Angeles Police Department after some of its officers were captured on camera brutally beating Black motorist Rodney King in 1991. Studying how violent situations evolve, Staub found that most people are passive bystanders, those who let things happen and assume no responsibility for others actions. A good example of th