Title
ABLE, ICAT and Less Lethal Training Update
Description
This report provides the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee an update on the Police Department’s Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) training, ICAT (Integrating Communications, Assessment and Tactics) training and the Advanced Less Lethal program.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Report
Summary
Background
In an effort to continually improve training and align with national best practices, the Phoenix Police Department has implemented Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) and ICAT (Integrating Communications, Assessment and Tactics) trainings. ABLE prepares officers to successfully intervene to prevent harm and to create a law enforcement culture that supports peer intervention. This training delivers practical, scenario-based training for police agencies in the strategies and tactics of police peer intervention. ICAT is a scenario-based training for times when officers encounter volatile situations with erratic and potentially dangerous subjects who are not armed with a gun. This training involves teaching officers the necessary skills to address cases where officers may have otherwise used lethal force when the subject was either unarmed or armed with a knife, or other weapon, but not a firearm. In some of these cases, the individuals involved could be experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis.
ABLE Update
The Police Department held a Train the Trainer class in March 2022. Trainers then started teaching ABLE to staff in June 2022. Within 15 months, by Aug. 31, 2023, 1,028 (29 percent) employees had been trained with 11 instructors and a core group of six to seven instructors that taught on a regular basis.
Program Changes
In order to get more employees trained, the Department recruited several more instructors to go through the Train the Trainer program. The Department now has 22 dedicated instructors with three more going through the Train the Trainer course in the next month. Class scheduling has also been revamped as staff recruited instructors for specific dates, and once there were two instructors available and committed, added the classes to the Advanced Training catalog. Staff also worked to prioritized Field Training Officers, Chiefs and Commanders as well as offering classes at different locations, which has reduced no-shows and increased class capacity.
Current Status and Next Steps
As of Nov. 20, 2023, staff has trained 1,592 (47 percent of the Department), which is a 12 percent increase in just two months. Between now and Dec. 18, 2023, staff will have 11 classes for potentially 325 to 390 employees. The goal of the program is to now train 200-300 employees a month and complete ABLE training for the entire agency by this time next year. Once all employees have attended ABLE training, we will work with ABLE to create a two-hour refresher course, which will be completed annually.
ICAT Update
The ICAT Train the Trainer class was held on Jan. 9, 2022, with 44 participants. An additional 14 potential instructors have been identified to receive instructor training. The training is a one-day (10-hour) class which incorporates classroom and scenario-based training. ICAT is an evidence-based training program and is being evaluated by the National Policing Institute. The training sessions began with the Field Training Officers in April 2023. Since April, the next cluster of training was held for precincts and additional staff, with a total of 473 employees trained. Moving forward, the Department introduced greater efficiencies for the instructors and are moving the classes to day shift for now, with two more classes scheduled before the end of 2023.
Advanced Less Lethal Update
Please see Attachment A for 2021-2023 data on deployments and discharges of the less lethal munitions. Deployments are considered when a weapon system arrives on a call for service, and a discharge is when the system is actually used during the course of a call for service.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Assistant City Manager Lori Bays and the Police Department.