The uneasy, sometimes hostile relationship between law enforcement and communities of color has taken center stage as one of the pressing social issues of this time. And while solutions abound, some say the situation clearly highlights the need for God in policing.
“We are out there trying to bring a spiritual presence to policing,” said Imam Hassan Amin, a chaplain for the Baltimore Police Department as well as Johns Hopkins University and several Baltimore hospitals.
As a chaplain with the Baltimore Police Department, Imam Hassan Amin often rides along with officers in an effort to de-escalate volatile situations. (Courtesy Photo)
Amin, who is assigned to the Central and Northwestern police districts, believes that a widespread spiritual “darkness” shrouds many cities which is reflected in interactions between police officers and community members when evil forces ramp up potentially benign interactions into dangerous ones.
“So many cities are ‘dark’ and that’s why they may have so many problems,” Amin told the AFRO, adding that police chaplains can be a source of light in that darkness. “We hope we can chase any devil or evil force from these situations with our presence or the words that we say.”
That was the vision Chief Melvin Russell, who heads the BPD’s Community Collaboration Division, had for the citywide chaplaincy program many years ago.
In August 2008, Russell was promoted to commander of the Eastern Division, the most violent at the time, and he sought out a solution the only way he knew how.
“The night I got the promotion I prayed with my wife asking for true change, knowing that the 28 commanders who came before me were much brighter than I,” he told the AFRO. “Three days later God woke me up at four in the morning and gave me a vision.”
Adhering to that vision, Russell decided to assign pastors to do ride-alongs with some of his toughest officers beginning in 2009.
“They were abrasive, a little rough, their language a little unprofessional and had a history of complaints,” he said of the officers. “They were very resistant at first. They looked at the pastors as if they were spies for me.”
Eventually, however, the officers responded to the presence and work of the chaplains.
“It transformed the officers—it’s pretty tough to be a nasty officer when you have a pastor in the car with you. They opened up to the pastors about what was happening in their personal lives. And they learned how to talk to the community,” Russell recalled. “Pastors would come out and deal with community members and help de-escalate calls. They are able to do what the police officers cannot do by themselves and what the community may not want to do themselves.”
His combined efforts resulted in a 40-year low in crime in the Eastern Division, drawing the attention of the powers-that-be. At the end of 2012 into early 2013, Russell was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was asked by the mayor and commissioner to develop a city-wide community component to the BPD. Part of that was the launch of the Chaplaincy Academy in the fall of 2014. At the time, the BPD had only seven multi-faith chaplains, whom were being severely underutilized, Russell said.
“I figured out the only way they were being utilized was to come to police academy graduations to offer the invocation, and the only other time they were called was when officers were hurt to pray for them and their family,” he said.
Russell said God gave him a vision to saturate the city with at least 216 chaplains (the city has nine police districts each with four sectors; each sector would have six chaplains). The chaplains are trained in counseling, de-escalation, racial bias and other matters. He also had to rewrite the chaplaincy policy. For example, one of the rules at the time was that no chaplain could have a police record—a policy recommended by the International Conference of Police Chaplains (www.icpc4cops.org.)
“Some of our best clergy on the street are those who have a history and can better relate to people in the community,” Russell said of changing that rule.
Now, the main rules are that chaplains must commit to 20 hours per month to do ride-alongs with officers and do outreach in the community. Chief Russell said he also expects to get “relative equity.”
“If you walk outside your place of worship and no one knows who you are I can’t use you,” he said.
That “street cred” among chaplains became critical in April 2015 when—just two weeks after the first Chaplaincy Academy class of 35 clergy graduated—civil unrest erupted in Baltimore after the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray while in police custody.
“I had to immediately galvanize them to work in the Western District and help to restore the peace,” Russell said. “They were fresh out of the academy and were pushed into the worst situation and they did a phenomenal job.”
What the chaplains did during the riots—standing between police and upset community members, and helping to bring a measure of calm—is what they are expected to do on a daily basis.
“Baltimore City is a trauma-filled city where most people live with trauma and do so silently—including officers. That’s how they build up walls and become desensitized,” Russell said. “Chaplains are trained to restore peace to the officers. You can’t be a peacemaker if you don’t have peace yourself.”
They also bring a measure of healing to the community, said Minister Kennita Riddick, a BPD chaplain.
Riddick joined the BPD Chaplaincy Academy after the unrest, saying she was moved by the anger and despair she saw and wanted to become a “change-agent” for her city.
“I prayed to God and asked what I could do; I told the Lord, ‘Here am I; send me,’” she recalled.
Since then, she has seen the value of the program. For example, when a 5-year-old recently killed himself with his father’s gun, she was able to offer succor to the relatives. Another chaplain recently talked a suicidal man off a bridge. And, in tense situations, community members who don’t ordinarily trust the police would talk because of the presence of the chaplains.
Riddick said she has also been able to foster better understanding of the police among relatives and other community members through the insights she garners during her time with officers.
“There’s always two sides to a story,” she said. “Officers do so much we don’t see…. We can’t be quick to judge.”
Chief Russell said the program now has about 150 chaplains and continues to grow. He expects to institute improved accountability checks, refresher courses for the chaplains and also a means of recognizing outstanding chaplains.
He said, “I fully expect this will become a national model.”
