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Law, order and faith: Group of volunteer chaplains provides ministry of 'being there' for victims, police

The chaplain group is looking to grow its numbers to better serve the community. It is seeking people in ministry who share the goal of showing the “unconditional presence of love to people in their darkest hour,” regardless of denomination.
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Chaplain Philip Woods' Longmont Public Safety ID badge and patch.

Nearly 40 years ago, Longmont Public Safety brought together a small group of community religious leaders to support officers and victims. What that looks like might surprise you. 

The Front Range Chaplains program began in 1981 allowing religious leaders to be “available to assist with injury and death notification, critical incident response, stress management tips, counseling, and visitation to sick and injured employees and their families,” according to the city of Longmont website.  

The role they play has evolved over the years but chaplains’ primary focus continues to be supporting officers — whether through ministry or at the scene of a crime. 

There are nine members of the Front Range Chaplains who represent a diversity of faiths, including Chrisitanity and Judaism. That diversity allows members to work together to serve the community as a whole through connections with other Longmont faith leaders, said Ed McQueen of Rocky Mountain Christian Church. 

“The fact that we have that interworking in the community is really valuable,” he said. 

Master Police Officer Ryan Douglas said chaplains “can use their community resources to find the right fit for people. When the chaplains show up, they are not there to convert somebody on scene. They are just there to walk in on (victims’) worst day and be of support to them.”

Chaplains refer to their role as a ministry of presence — being there to help people by just being there.

“The reality of it is, as pastors, we deal with some of the worst situations. For most people, it doesn’t really matter your history when you’re going through a troubled time, a lot of people turn to God … It doesn’t matter what relationship, what church, what organization, there’s a shared goal in loving people. It's all about showing love to the community when they need it most,” said Dave Cronk of Firehouse Ministries.

The chaplains play several roles to support officers at crime scenes. They can include comforting victims, calming a crowd or even blocking the view of a crime scene. 

Shortly after Lucas Kinser, of Faith Community Lutheran Church, joined the chaplains, he was called to a tragic scene. There were children at the scene who had not eaten and Kinser took up the role of making sure the children were fed, Master Police Officer Douglas said. 

“We have had people shovel sidewalks (at a scene). It’s about seeing a need and filling it,” Douglas said. 

Chaplains also can act as a “buffer to officers for the investigation that has to take place,” Firehouse Ministries Dave Cronk said. This can mean answering a victim’s questions, getting them a drink of water or distracting them.

Douglas said, “As an officer, it is such a godsend to have them there to hand off the family so I can get back to doing what I need to do. There is an emotional side to a scene and there’s the scientific side to it. Until I can turn off the emotional side and hand that off to somebody, it is really hard to pay attention to the task at hand.” 

Over the years the number of pastors participating has fluctuated based on the needs of the Public Safety Department. In 1992, the Colorado mandated victim advocate groups become part of departments. These groups are tasked with “ addressing the needs of crime victims primarily by providing support to the service providers and systems that serve victims,” according to the Victims Rights Act blue book.

With victim advocates serving a similar role to chaplains, Longmont Public Safety officials had to decide whether the chaplain program was important enough to keep. 

“The encouragement for me was, everybody said, ‘We want you here. We’re glad to have you here. We don’t always know what to do with you, but we are glad to have you in our back pocket because there are times when we are looking around and discover we need chaplains,’” said Rick Ebbers of Journey Church.

Now the chaplains and victim advocates work together, however, the chaplains have adopted a slightly different role than advocates by “being there for the scene,” Ebbers said. 

Douglas said, “I think this team does a great job of meeting people not where they expect to meet them but where they are. That could be pretty far away from a churchgoing person, but that is totally fine.”

The chaplain group is looking to grow its numbers to better serve the community. It is seeking people in ministry who share the goal of showing the “unconditional presence of love to people in their darkest hour,” regardless of denomination, Cronk said. 

While most chaplains represent Christian churches, the organization is hoping religious leaders of all faiths will consider joining to better represent the diversity of faith in Longmont. 

Ebbers said he hopes other religious leaders will find the same passion to serve as a chaplain and view it as an extension of the ministry they already provide. 

The most important things the Front Range Chaplains group is looking for are flexibility and heart. 

“It is really important to understand that to be a good pastor you need to be flexible. The same thing applies here. It is coming into it with the right heart to begin with and being 100% flexible,” Cronk said.   

Master Police Officer Douglas said, “These nine people represent however many hundreds of people in the community as leaders in their churches. They have resources outside of these walls (the police department) that we don’t. It feels really good to connect people with needs with people who want to fulfill needs.”   

For more details about joining the Front Range Chaplains, call chaplain coordinator Philip Woods at 303-651-8533, or apply here.