The NOPD’s new peer intervention program, known as EPIC, or Ethical Policing is Courageous, will be introduced to a national audience of police officials this week at a police use of force meeting in New Orleans. Superintendent Michael Harrison will introduce EPIC, which launched in January 2016 with a goal of empowering officers on the streets to intervene if they see a colleague doing something wrong or unethical. NOPD leaders, supervisors and many rank-and-file officers have already received EPIC training, and the department is now in the process of training all current officers and new recruits.
The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) is hosting the two-day event, which starts Tuesday (Dec. 13) and is expected to draw more than 400 police officials of all ranks representing more than 150 law enforcement agencies from across the country and around the world including from such major cities as Los Angeles, Baltimore, Dallas and New York City, as well as agencies in Canada, Scotland and Ireland. The event will educate police departments on how to implement best practices on de-escalation,decision-making and use of force tactics into their training and will include scenario-based training.
The PERF conference marks the second time in two months that PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler has participated in discussions in New Orleans on police reform. Wexler was the keynote speaker at the New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation’s annual fundraiser in October. At the event, Wexler praised the NOPD for being at the forefront of reform and for embracing implementation of the federal consent decree.
Wexler said he chose to bring this conference to New Orleans because the NOPD “exemplifies a department that is focused on turning itself around.”
“The NOPD is really leading reform efforts for the entire country,” he said.
The opportunity to showcase the EPIC program before a national audience is just the most recent opportunity for this model program, which was profiled in the New York Times in August. In October, PERF highlighted the program in its quarterly national newsletter and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite touted EPIC as a “groundbreaking tool for repairing broken community trust” in an op-ed.