EVERETT, Wash. — The Everett Police Department announced it's joining a national strategy to help win the trust back that's eroded between police officers and the public in recent months due to high profile deaths at the hands of law enforcement.
"I think it's a huge step in the right direction," said Everett Police Chief Dan Templeman.
Being a cop on the street feels different now for officer Ray Palacol than it did just a few months ago.
"You grow up thinking you're the good guy and all of a sudden it seems like you're the bad guy," he said.
Palacol conceded the perception by some that police protect each other more than the public they serve is a serious problem.
"In light of everything that's happening, I think we understand the culture has to change," he said.
That change must include police stepping in when they see wrongdoing. Case in point, several officers stood idly by as another choked the life out of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd could be heard calling for his mother. His final words: "I can't breathe."
"Without public trust we don't have the legitimacy to police our communities," said Templeman. To build trust Templeman is implementing a first of its kind training program called Active Bystander for Law Enforcement or ABLE.
Developed at the Georgetown University School of Law, ABLE teaches cops how and when to intervene when they see one of their own crossing a line.
Templeman compared it to the training airline pilots receive.
"There's a ranked structure within the cockpit of an airplane. Everybody in that cockpit is trained to intervene. Regardless of rank, if you're new or a veteran, if you see the pilot making a mistake you intervene because of what's at stake," said Templeman.
Professor Christy Lopez, co-director of Georgetown Law’s Innovative Policing Program, which runs ABLE, said, “The ABLE Project seeks to ensure every police officer in the United States has the opportunity to receive meaningful, effective active bystandership training, and to help agencies transform their approach to policing by building a culture that supports and sustains successful peer intervention to prevent harm.”
Everett police join a select group of 30 other law enforcement agencies and training academies chosen to participate in the ABLE Project’s national rollout.
While the training is intended to protect the public from excessive force, it is also designed to keep police from having their careers ended by a mistake made in the heat of the moment.
For Palacol, it's a commitment that he truly is here to serve and protect his community. "If the community trusts us our job is way easier."