Police Chaplaincy Academy
Tuesday 17 March 2015We are getting closer to the end.Today we had the honor of having Councilman Carl Stokes visit us. He echoed City Council President Bernard "Jack" Young in thanking us for our volunteering to be chaplains for the Baltimore City Police Department. By the way, we are volunteers, not paid. We believe in our City and in our people. We also believe in our police officers. We know that many of them are traumatized and we understand this.
He pointed out to us that a third of the citizens in Baltimore City live in property. That is under 100,000 children in the City alone. He also said that some of our phone, TV, and Internet bills are more than $1,000 a year. My phone and Internet come over $600 a year and this is why I do not give out my cell phone number. I pay by the minute there and I use it only for emergencies. Because I guard it so carefully, I was paying less than $10 a month.
DOJCOP is also doing an audit of the Baltimore City Police Department. They are looking at community engagement. Right now they are collecting data. They believe in what Commissioner Anthony Batts and LTC Melvin Russell are doing. So does this writer. They are also looking for what we do good so that they can share that with other cities.
James Page, vice president, chief diversity officer, Johns Hopkins Medical Center, was our next speaker. One [or more] research shows that people respect police officers more than they respect clergy. Nurses are at the top of the list and politicians are at the bottom right below car salesmen. The numbers are quite interesting. Nurses are at 84% and the medical professional in general are at 70% or higher. Then come high school teachers, police officers, clergy, and funeral directors, from 44% to 62%. Under that are sales and politicians, between 7 and 11%.
We ended with conversations about ride-alongs which we will be doing. Pastor Matt Stevens said that it is a very small amount of people in the community who cause trouble and that is because they are troubled. We again heard "Engaged presence brings reduction [in crime]."
One of the tools that we will have is "relational equity." He asked us to join any walks that we hear about.
Officer Dave Rafferty told us about his experience with Pastor Don Campbell. Retired officer Daphne Henderson also shared some of her experience with us.
If you are a clergy in Baltimore City and are interested in joining us, please contact me or LTC Russell of the Baltimore City Police Department. We want to have at least 200 good chaplains. This is volunteer, but "the pay is out of this world."
City Councilman Carl Stokes
Billie and Lisa from DOJCOP
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Pastor Matt Stevens
