Chaplain program trains 'instruments of peace' for police, firefighters

To be an emergency services chaplain is to answer a difficult calling, to say the least.

It's a job that requires running to a high-pressure scene at a moment's notice and being prepared to help anyone, from a police officer to a child. Most often, the task at hand is finding the right thing to say to an officer or firefighter.

Experience has taught the Rev. John Harth that sometimes you say nothing.

"Chaplaincy is very often a ministry of presence, more than anything else," he said. "All too often, people think, 'What am I going to say? I've got to say something.' Sometimes you don't have to say anything."

Harth has been a Catholic priest and emergency services chaplain since 1987. He's a Master Level Chaplain, a lifetime member of the International Conference of Police Chaplains and serves the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Scott County Sheriff's Department and the Cape Girardeau County Chaplains Unit. He also is the pastor at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Jackson.

When Harth came to the area about seven years ago, Cape Girardeau County didn't have a chaplaincy unit. Some chaplains were serving the Cape Girardeau Police Department, and Jackson's police department had chaplains at one time, but no organization existed. For Harth, the movement began when Sheriff John Jordan asked him to help start a unit for his office in 2008.

It was later suggested a combined unit be created to serve public-safety departments across the county. The Cape Girardeau County Chaplains Unit was established in 2011.

An inside job

Besides serving the sheriff's office and the Cape Girardeau and Jackson police departments, Harth said chaplains also serve dispatchers and Cape Girardeau County Emergency Management employees. Dispatchers may not work crime scenes, but they are heavily involved when a crime or accident is initially reported. They feel the stress as much as those on the scene, especially since they sometimes are the last to know the incident's conclusion, he said.

Chaplains have come and gone over the past few years, and many in the unit are relatively new. Getting to know officers and overcoming their skepticism took time, Jordan said, but "now it's just old hat."

"It's a very good program," he said. "They stop in frequently and just stick their head in the door sometimes, just to chit-chat. Sometimes people seek them out for spiritual advice or just any number of things to talk about."

The Rev. Kim Nelson of First Presbyterian Church of Cape Girardeau is one of the newest members of the unit. He's no stranger to the chaplaincy, having served many years for the Monterrey County Sheriff's Department in California. Still, it takes work to overcome being seen as an outsider.

Ride-alongs, attending public events and being available behind the scenes to speak with officers or their families can help build relationships, he said. In the year and a half he's been here, Nelson said it's been an honor to serve.

"Few people realize the everyday pressures [police officers] go through," he said. "It's not that they hide their humanity, but they often get called to high-pressure situations where their own emotions have to take a back seat."

Stand and deliver

Just as it takes a certain kind of person to handle the pressures of law enforcement and emergency services, Harth said chaplaincy isn't for all pastors. Even those who do volunteer have to put some time and effort into training. Next month, the unit will head to Branson, Missouri, for a two-day regional training seminar.

Dr. Shawn Wasson, senior pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau, said the training is intensive. New chaplains will receive instruction in 12 areas, including basic introduction to law enforcement chaplaincy, stress management, responding to a crisis situation and law enforcement family dynamics. Training is offered for more experienced chaplains as well.

Wasson's shelf is lined with books that offer more lessons on serving as a chaplain. Like Harth, he's a member of the International Conference of Police Chaplains and has served for five years. He also said outreach and establishing trust are key issues for any chaplain to overcome.

"It can be easier with officers already involved in churches around the area, and we have connections sometimes that way, but then you might have somebody who doesn't know us and doesn't trust us because we have 'chaplain' written on our shirt," he said.

The role of a chaplain isn't to preach or recruit new church members, Wasson said, but to offer spiritual and emotional guidance. Whether it's day-to-day fatigue or a more overwhelming event, Jordan said the pressures can add up.

"You see the negative things that happen in life, and police officers are dealing with that right on the front lines," he said. "Overseas, it's military dealing with that, but here at home it's officers on the front line ... and you see the worst that can happen in society. That's why it's very easy for them to become cynical and see the world as 'everybody's bad.' But you have to be kept in check and see the good out there outweighs the bad."

In the wings

Besides training the unit's newer chaplains, Harth said the most immediate goal he hopes to achieve involves encouraging officers to see chaplains as a regular resource. His plan is to establish a protocol in which dispatchers inquire whether officers would like a chaplain to be called to an accident or crime scene.

Some instances where a chaplain's presence might be helpful include hostage or barricade situations, death or injury of civilians or death or injury of officers, firefighters or emergency medical personnel.

Harth and Wasson said it can feel as if the unit is somewhat underused, but that's not to say officers don't depend on them for help in certain situations. When officers have to deliver death notifications to a family, Wasson said they sometimes like to bring a chaplain with them as a calming influence or for emotional support. Chaplains also can stay with individuals after they receive the news and wait with them for additional family to arrive.

"It's not good to leave someone alone when they've just received life-changing bad news," he said. "So we can be available in ways officers cannot."

When the Scott County Sheriff's Office conducts raids and believes children might be in the home, Harth said they typically bring a chaplain. He once was called to a raid where there were no children in the home, but he stayed to help an elderly woman until she was in touch with her daughter who lived nearby.

At a time when tensions between law enforcement officials and the public seem to be high, knowing a chaplain is available can be especially helpful to officers. The conversations are confidential, Wasson said, and there's less fear of judgment compared to sharing problems with a superior. Opening up to a family member also can be difficult.

At the end of the day, that's the true goal, said Harth: "To be an instrument of peace for those who serve and protect." As a law enforcement official, Jordan knows sometimes that's just what officers need.

"Police officers tend to have that tough mantra about them, but on the inside, they're just like anyone else," he said. "We bleed just like anyone else. We weep just like anyone else. It just gets bottled and pent up most of the time."

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

Jackson, Mo.

Cape Girardeau, Mo.