Juneau police become first Alaska agency in Georgetown peer-intervention program

The Juneau Police Department says it is the first Alaska police agency to join ABLE, a Georgetown Law program that trains officers to step in when a colleague is about to make a mistake or commit misconduct. The department finished the work in August.

Every sworn officer has taken the training. Each must complete an annual refresher for the department to keep its ABLE status.

ABLE stands for Active Bystandership of Law Enforcement. Georgetown Law's Center for Innovations in Community Safety runs the program, and Georgetown says more than 400 law enforcement agencies have adopted it. Officers learn to identify situations that could lead to mistakes or misconduct and to step in, the department said.

"I have witnessed firsthand the ABLE program's success in preventing officers from making mistakes by empowering fellow officers to intervene and support one another," Police Chief Derek Bos said in the department's release.

The department began applying in December 2024. The process takes an average of 12 to 18 months, the department said. Once Juneau was accepted, three officers completed 20 hours of training to become in-house instructors, and in August all sworn officers took an 8-hour, scenario-based course.

The department also committed to keeping policies that support officer intervention and an employee wellness program. It launched that program in 2024 to offer staff and their families mental health resources, resiliency training, wellness check-ins and a peer support team.

Bos first described the plan at a Juneau Assembly Jan. 27, 2025, work session, calling the program free and saying it empowers officers to hold each other to higher legal and professional standards. His goal then was to finish in 2025.

Bos said the program also reaches into wellness, asking officers and professional staff to engage with colleagues who may be struggling. "Not only does the ABLE program empower officers to speak up when they see a potential concern, it also teaches participants to accept intervention and be responsive to better service," he said.

Georgetown's ABLE program standards call for two hours of annual refresher training, taught by instructors who completed ABLE's train-the-trainer course. Georgetown says it does not evaluate or certify agencies. Each agency self-certifies that it follows the guidelines.

Georgetown researchers are running a randomized controlled trial comparing trained and untrained officers to test whether ABLE promotes peer intervention and reduces police use of force and complaints. Georgetown lists the study as in progress.