Blog: KPD News & Alerts

KPD Selected to Join ABLE Project

On Tuesday, the Knoxville Police Department was officially selected to join the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project as a partner agency.

The KPD is the first agency in the state of Tennessee to be accepted into the ABLE Project and joins more than 270 law enforcement agencies across the United States and Canada who have committed to the ABLE Standards.

“I am thrilled that our agency has officially been accepted into the ABLE Project,” Chief of Police Paul Noel said. “As I said before, ABLE will help our department create a culture that not only values personal and departmental accountability and employee wellness, but views those things as essential to our operations. Our department only stands to benefit from implementing this training and putting it into practice.”

Jonathan Aronie, co-founder and chair of the ABLE Project’s Board of Advisors, lauded the Department’s decision to join the program. “By teaching officers practical and evidence-based intervention strategies and tactics, ABLE educates and empowers officers to intervene in another officer’s conduct to prevent misconduct, reduce mistakes, and promote officer health and wellness. I’m thrilled (but not surprised) that Chief Noel so quickly brought this transformational program to the KPD. ABLE is a win/win for community members and officers.”

As part of the implementation process, the KPD must next select participants to attend a four-day Train-the-Trainer session. Participants who successfully complete the Train-the-Trainer will receive ABLE instructor certificates as well as the relevant training material and are then certified to teach the core ABLE curriculum.

To be selected into the ABLE Project, KPD had to submit letters of support from Mayor Indya Kincannon, Chief Paul Noel, and two independent community groups. Knoxville Area Urban League and Knoxville NAACP wrote letters on behalf of the KPD vouching for the Department’s sincere commitment to the program.

The ABLE training will be implemented into the KPD’s 2023 training schedule. The ABLE Standards require that all officers and recruits receive the initial eight-hour ABLE training as well as two hours of training on an annual, reoccurring basis.

For more information about the ABLE Project, please visit https://www.law.georgetown.edu/cics/able/.

Posted by serland On 12 August, 2022 at 10:48 AM