NORTH SALT LAKE — It has been more than two years since George Floyd was killed by a Minnesota police officer as several other officers stood nearby.
Now, a unique program is being offered here in Utah to help officers step in and help each other prevent misconduct and officer-involved tragedies.
The training program is called the ABLE Project, which stands for Active Bystander Law Enforcement. It comes to the Beehive State through a partnership between the Utah Local Governments Trust and Georgetown University Law, which helped create the project back in 2020.
The first week of training has brought 60 officers from 20 various agencies to participate.
"We have officers and sheriffs and deputies and chiefs from all over the state," said Steven Hansen, the CEO of the Utah Local Governments Trust. "Classroom, interactive scenario-based, scientifically-based — it's heavily based on social science."
The training is geared toward providing officers with the tools necessary when responding to an emergency situation.
"What we try to do is help folks identify what those barriers are, what the triggers are for them, and then also try to provide them some skills and tactics to basically break through those barriers to intervene effectively," said Declan Sullivan, a program associate for the ABLE Project.
One of the exciting parts about the active bystander application, Hansen said, is how it's not a come-and-go type of training. Those who participate actually have to apply to Georgetown to be a part of it. In order for someone to show their commitment to the program, they need four letters of support. Hansen said that includes someone like a mayor or police chief, as well as two community letters of support.
Gary Jensen has served as the police chief of the Logan City Police Department for almost 14 years, leading 59 sworn officers in his department.
"I get to review all use of force incidents in Logan," said Chief Jensen. "Within the last couple of months, I've seen two incidents."
Luckily, he says, one particular incident didn't escalate.
"A fellow officer stepped in and said, 'Hey, I got you, man, go take a breath for a sec,'" Jensen said.
He hopes the training will help build more trust between the community and the police.
"We understand that that comes slowly, and as we do things right, the public then falls in line and hopefully sees a better outcome, and then trust becomes more of a reality," Jensen said.
All agencies that are part of the ABLE Program are required to deliver a two-hour refresher training every year.
