Fernandina Beach Police Department
February 7, 2022
Today the FBPD started training our officers on the ABLE process – Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement. The program is a project of Georgetown Law and provides officers with the skills to intervene if they believe a peer is veering off course in a situation, whether it be the improper use of force or another decision that could have negative consequences.
Once the training is complete, every member of the FBPD from officer to chief will have learned the concepts of ABLE. For more information on ABLE please visit https://www.law.georgetown.edu/cics/able/
I hope these police officers learn that people can have passionate discussions without the police needing to intervene. I was in just such a discussion on a street corner in town, with no intentions of any violence or altercation by either party, when the police herded me off like I was a criminal. Their whole purpose was creating an illusion of calm and order, ruining a good chance for a civil discussion. They were very concerned about people not rocking the boat, or even appearing to not rock the boat.