Department seeks ‘ABLE’ designation

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is applying to the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Project to be named a participating agency.

The project, with acronym ABLE, was created by Georgetown Law Center for Innovations in Community Safety in partnership with global law firm Sheppard Mullin. The ABLE project was created to prepare officers to successfully intervene to prevent harm and to create a law enforcement culture that supports peer intervention.

The three main goals of the ABLE project are to prevent misconduct, avoid police mistakes and promote officer health and wellness, the department said. This is accomplished by every member at the sheriff’s office completing a required annual training led by the BCSO ABLE training coordinator, Detective Dane Duke.

BCSO learned about the program from Chief Deputy Chris Lane’s participation in the FBI National Academy and from which he continues to receive updates on cutting edge programs to better law enforcement agencies throughout the nation.

“My participation in the FBI National Academy was one of the highlights of my law enforcement career,” said Lane. “Completing the program was an accomplishment in itself, but the knowledge and connections I was able to bring back to our community will continue to benefit for years to come, and this program is a prime example of that.”

BCSO is being supported in its application for this program by Fernando Herndon representing Cummins Inc. as their Cummins Advocating for Racial Equity (CARE) City Leader, the NAACP Columbus/Bartholomew Branch 3071, Sheriff Matt Myers and the Bartholomew County Commissioner’s Office.

“During my eight years leading your Sheriff’s Office, I believe we have greatly improved in several different areas, however I believe the greatest improvement has been the quality of our training program,” said Myers. “I believe that ABLE training is a necessary step in continuing the forward trajectory of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office.”