If you witnessed someone about to commit an unethical act, would you try to stop it?

It is a question with particular stakes for police officers, whose interactions with civilians can turn violent or tragic with frightening unpredictability.

And sometimes, Springfield Police Lt. Norman Charest said an interview, officers act badly. So in an effort to stop misconduct before it starts, the Springfield Police Department is launching a new training initiative to help officers police each other.

"One of the goals of the curriculum is to teach officers how to be psychologically prepared to intervene when they see other officers maybe on the verge of improper behavior," said Charest, the department's training director. "It talks about learning how to become an active bystander - how to speak up."

The new training is modeled on a nationally recognized program launched by the New Orleans Police Department. The program began in Springfield during annual in-service trainings in September. And while a full curriculum is still in development, all officers will receive an introduction to its principles by the end of training season in June, Charest said.

New Orleans began its officer intervention training under the shadow of a federal consent decree, imposed after a 2011 federal report detailed a litany of abuses committed by the city's officers.

And while Springfield is under no such order, the new training comes as the department is dealing with its own wave of misconduct allegations.

Det. Gregg Bigda was suspended for 60 days after threatening to crush the skull of a juvenile suspect and plant drugs on him - while other officers looked on. And 12 officers are currently under investigation by the Hampden County District Attorney's Office for allegedly beating a group of men following an argument at a bar in April, 2015.

In an interview, Police Commissioner John Barbieri said he began exploring the idea of intervention training in July, before the recent abuse allegations were publicized.

He, Mayor Domenic Sarno and a group of community leaders held a discussion on police-community relations following the killing of five officers in Dallas on July 7. As he talked with religious officials and nonprofit heads, sitting around a table in the Carriage House in Forest Park, an idea suggested by a retired state police lieutenant sparked his interest.

"One of the comments that came up was there was really no training for police in policing other police officers and intervention for police officers who are either behaving badly in calls or have cues for behavioral problems with gambling or alcoholism," Barbieri said.

He began looking into it, and found that the International Association of Police Chiefs had highlighted the New Orleans model. The program appealed to him, and he tasked Charest with reaching out to the New Orelans Police Department and crafting a curriculum for Springfield officers.

"I liked the New Orleans approach," Barbieri said. "It talks about early intervention, and it's something that officers can buy into. It talks about how it's for their careers and the protection of the general public."

The New Orleans training attempts to instill in officers that they have a responsibility, no matter how difficult it may be, to prevent their colleagues from committing misconduct, according to a New York Times report on the program. It goes over strategies for recognizing signs of stress or aggression in other officers, and for calming officers down or taking the lead in a civilian encounter when tension ramps up.

It also frames intervention as a way to help fellow officers, rather than as a crossing of the thin blue line. By stopping abuse before it starts, officers are told that they can save their partners' jobs.

"That hits home with police officers," Charest said. "You always want to protect yourself, your partner and others."

New Orleans' program has its academic roots in the work of Dr. Ervin Staub, a retired University of Massachusetts Amherst psychology professor and Holocaust survivor whose research focuses on "bystander effect" - the impulse to remain passive in a morally fraught situation.

Staub's research has been applied in scenarios ranging from school bullying to the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles Police Department officers. In one of his most cited studies, seminary students who were told they had to deliver a sermon on the Good Samaritan walked past a man crying out for help on their way to the chapel; only 10 percent of those who believed they were late stopped to offer aid.

Asked whether police officers face particular pressure not to intervene when other officers commit misconduct, Charest said that police are not immune from such social influences.

"With policing, you have the same social issues that you do in any other field," Charest said. "Policing is no different from being a fireman or a teacher or a machine operator. There's always informal dynamics within the group."

That sentiment echoes language found in the NOPD's peer intervention training guide, which notes that officers can be slow to stop a fellow officer's misconduct.

"While we all can point to a time in our life where we did intervene, chances are we also all can point to a time in our life where we did not intervene. Humans are inherently passive bystanders for many reasons," the guide says. "Interestingly, the research shows the reasons for such non-intervention are no different for officers: fear of being wrong, a feeling of 'it's not my job to step in,' fear of being ostracized, and perhaps most importantly, the belief that loyalty means supporting your colleague regardless of the rightness of your colleague's actions."

Two and a half months after New Orleans launched its program - called "EPIC," or "Ethical Policing is Courageous" - it has won praise from the federal authorities tasked with overseeing the department in the wake of its troubled past.

Jonathan Aronie, leader of the monitoring team for the

NOPD

's federal consent decree,

that the training could help prevent misconduct and help officers keep their jobs.

"I have little doubt the New Orleans peer intervention program soon will become a

national model -- the New Orleans Model," Aronie wrote. "Officers simply can't afford not to take active steps to protect their own careers, their families, and their chosen profession. And the community can't afford it either."

And in

U.S.

attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana Kenneth Polite described

EPIC

as a valuable tool for preventing misconduct.

"Instinctively, officers jump into altercations when they observe their fellow officers in physical danger," Polite wrote. "EPIC seeks to instill this same instinct when officers observe their fellow officers in ethical danger."

That focus on prevention is the core of the program, Charest said; officers are already trained to report misconduct after it occurs, and the department has already implemented de-escalation training to help resolve confrontations without violence.

The new training is still not fully implemented in Springfield. Charest has reached out to the New Orleans Police Department for access to training materials as he writes a full curriculum, and cadets in the current police academy class have not yet been briefed on peer intervention. He has not yet heard back.

For now, officers are being taught the basic principles during in-service training. But once is fully launched - hopefully in 2017, Charest said - every officer will learn the importance of intervention.

"You might recognize signs within your partner that they're starting to be upset, irritable, agitated," Charest said. Yyou recognize those signs so you can perhaps say let me try talking to them, let me try a different tactic."