Page 3 - EPIC Conference Third Annual Program

LaToya Cantrell
MAYOR
Dear Invited Guests,
CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
DEPARTMENT OF POLICE
715 South Broad Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70119
“to protect and to serve”
Shaun D. Ferguson
SUPERINTENDENT
On behalf of the Honorable Mayor LaToya Cantrell and all the members of the New Orleans Police Department, it is truly a privilege to welcome you (virtually) to the City of New Orleans. We would like to extend our thanks to Dean Madeleine Landrieu and the Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law for again being such a great partner to the NOPD and to this third annual EPIC Conference.
Over the past several years, our agency has been on a journey to change the culture of policing, not only in New Orleans, but across the country. We are proud of what we have accomplished so far, but we obviously have not done it alone. You will meet many of those responsible for helping us along this journey over the course of the conference. They have joined us to share their thoughts and experiences with you, and we thank them for their unwavering support.
Over the next two days, we will be discussing a transformative approach to peer intervention. Our "Ethical Policing Is Courageous," or EPIC, program was designed as a tool that empowers police officers, regardless of rank, to intervene and prevent a harmful act before it occurs. It is a program that was developed by the members of the NOPD with the assistance of outside experts, and that has evolved into a profound philosophy embraced across our department.
The success of our EPIC program now has reached well beyond New Orleans. In fact, earlier this year, the NOPD worked with the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC to create a national active bystandership program called the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project, which will offer world-class, free active bystandership training to police instructors from coast to coast. Multiple members of the NOPD (leadership and rank and file officers) sit on the ABLE Project Board of Advisors, and other members are active participants in a number of ABLE Project working groups. I could not be more proud of my team for their herculean efforts in helping to create this wonderful national home for a program that was born right here in the Crescent City.
My personal commitment to EPIC and the ABLE Project is reflective of my broader pledge to continue the ongoing transformation of the New Orleans Police Department as well as the needed transformation of the culture of policing more generally. My team and I are excited to share our ideas with you and ask for your support in helping us further improve this program.
Sincerely,
Superintendent Shaun D. Ferguson New Orleans Police Department
“an equal opportunity employer”
2. | Third Annual National Police Peer Intervention Executive Leadership Conference