The Colorado State Patrol announced a partnership with the Georgetown University Law Center for Innovations in Community Safety to implement a new program training officers on techniques for preventing misconduct and avoiding police mistakes.
The Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement, or ABLE, program includes scenario-based role-play and the creation of a culture that supports intervention in high-stress situations, regardless of officer rank, according to a state patrol news release on Tuesday.
This program is in compliance with Senate Bill 20-217, which went into effect July 1. The bill made it illegal for a Colorado police officer to fail to stop another from using excessive force and protects those who attempt to intervene from any retaliation.
“ABLE was not considered due to any incident,” Master Trooper Gary Cutler said via email Wednesday.
Cutler said the decision to implement ABLE training was made in 2021. But he noted that as part of the $19 million settlement in the 2022 killing of Christian Glass by law enforcement, the state agreed to share with every trooper a video of Glass’ parents explaining the importance of further intervention training.
The agreement also required CSP to incorporate lessons from the killing into its training; policing experts have said that officers at the scene — including Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputies, Idaho Springs and Georgetown police officers, a Colorado State Patrol trooper and state Division of Gaming investigators — failed to de-escalate the situation before deciding to use deadly force on Glass, who was unarmed and posed no threat.
According to Cutler, CSP will adhere to ABLE’s program standards after the training is complete. These standards include “meaningful training,” “accountability” and “community support.” Training began May 23 and, according to Cutler, 100% of sworn-in members are expected to be trained by the end of December. As of Tuesday, more than 90% of troopers already had gone through the program.
“We are very excited to be partnering with ABLE to expand our training on active bystandership,” CSP chief Col. Matthew C. Packard said in the news release. “Through this program we prioritize our commitment, dedicating an internal resource to coordinating this program and adhering to outside standards.”
The ABLE Project is meant to build on training to help police officers stop unnecessary harmful behavior of other officers. According to the news release, all sworn CSP staff, including top leadership, will be required to take the ABLE training and will receive annual refresher training from this point forward.
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Updated 5:30 p.m. Sept. 14, 2023: This article was updated to include that all CSP troopers will be shown a video of the parents of the late Christian Glass explaining why such intervention is important and to note that the settlement involving Glass’ death at the hands of law enforcement officers included a mandate that CSP incorporate lessons from the police shooting into its training.
