wfn.org | Chaplains form 'God squad' to fight crime

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 15, 2003 News media contact: Fran Walsh7(615)742-54587Nashville, Tenn.
ALL{493}

A UMNS Feature
By Fran Walsh*

The police force in Harvey, Ill., is calling on a higher power in its fight
against crime.

A group of 10 chaplain volunteers - a virtual "God squad" - is helping police
defuse tension, comfort crime victims and restore the community's sense of
safety. 

Resident Jackie Bynum says she's seen a change in her neighborhood already.
"It's stopping a lot of crime. Where they shoot over here all the time, it's
stopped that. Kids can play out here." 

Mayor Eric Kellogg organized the team earlier this year to help the small
Chicago suburb respond to its big-city problems. The community, which has
30,000 residents, reported 11 murders, 800 assaults and 42 rapes last year. 

The time was right for a spiritual solution, according to the Rev. Charles
Woolery of First Wesley Academic United Methodist Church. "Laws can't
legislate morality and ethical living. Laws cannot legislate godly living."

The police department is thankful for the extra help, and patrol commander
Darnell Keel admires the chaplains' commitment. "That's saying a lot for the
administration, the mayor, and saying a lot for the clergymen. They are
taking a chance, but they put that to the side because they care about the
people." 

The mayor is planning on expanding the program and is looking for a rabbi or
imam to include in his city's fight against crime. 

The American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of
Church and State complained that the program violated the principle of the
separation of church and state, but those complaints were dropped after
meetings with city officials. Kellogg notes that the ministers are not paid.

The ministers do not proselytize, says head chaplain Lance Davis, bishop of
New Zion Christian Fellowship. "If we're trying to convert anyone to
anything, we're trying to convert them to a message of the community has to
be accountable for what takes place in it."

Woolery contends that the program is purely an effort to stabilize a city in
trouble. "It's a situation that is volatile and could explode at any moment,
and the pastors need to be out here to transform it."  

Keel agrees. "I'm glad to see it because when we go to somebody's house,
(say) their mother died, as a police officer, I can't really give them that
comfort being in a uniform. It may intimidate them. But when you have a
minister there to talk to about God, it helps them."

Davis adds that the intervention decreases the likelihood of retaliation
following a crime.

Ministers also hope a safer community will encourage new economic
development.
  
"The jobs have already left us," Woolery says. "We want to try to create an
environment where businesses want to come back." 

# # #

*Walsh is coordinating producer of UMTV, a unit of United Methodist News
Service.

 
 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org