PHOENIX — Every employee of the Phoenix Police Department is taking a course in "active bystandership," a course meant to encourage them to speak up if they see misconduct or dangerous actions.
The department is under investigation by the Department of Justice. This training, according to Phoenix police, is part of its preemptive response to whatever may come of the investigation.
The training is called ABLE (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement), and it aims to encourage employees to speak up regardless of rank or job.
"Set aside rank," Phoenix police Sgt. Chris Berrelleza, one of the instructors of the course, said. "That's really the idea that we want to get to is that rank shouldn't matter."
Case in point: When Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd's neck for more than 9 1/2 minutes, no other officers pulled him off.
MORE DETAILS: City of Phoenix will have options at end of DOJ investigation: Consent decree or go to trial?
The hope is that ABLE training would have encouraged them to.
"If they see something happening that's absolutely unsafe or ethically challenging, that they step in and say something," Berrelleza said.
ABLE training applies to all employees of the department, whether they're sworn officers or not.
"I never thought it was my place," Zaira Leyva said. Leyva is a front desk aide at a precinct and not a sworn officer.
"This training is good because it's letting us know that it's okay," she said.
The Department of Justice investigation is expected in the next few weeks or months. The City of Phoenix could decide to enter into a consent decree and, in effect, agree with what the Department of Justice recommends, or it can fight the recommendations in court.
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