Police dept. chaplains care about the souls of those in their charge; of course they do. Yet we citizens have for some time been reading over and over again of atrocities committed against our fellow citizens by police SWAT teams and other forms of militarized police activity. I'm sure there's a place for SWAT teams; we may be glad for them when they are needed. But they are being used for all kinds of situations that do not need that kind of invasive force and could be handled differently. Such situations have been handled differently before; they can be handled that way again.
This is a great opportunity for police chaplains to take the lead in an important issue for our country. Will we continue to degenerate into a state where its citizens will be regularly traumatized with barbaric and unjust cruelty by those we are supposed to be looking to for protection? But more to the point, should we as clergy not be concerned for the souls of these men who are being trained to behave in such a fashion? Should we stand by while these people are encouraged to commit wholly unreasonable and inhumane acts against unarmed men, women, children, and the aged? What kind of molding of character is gong on here? Is this the kingdom of Christ in the souls of these men? Is this the keeping of the Golden Rule? Is this works that will stand before the Judge at the Resurrection?
The SWAT team training in this country, and whatever else goes with it, needs reform, not only for victims of injustice, but for the sake of the trainees themselves and their eternal welfare. They are being trained to be barbarians, not civilized protectors of the peace.
Lord have mercy and help all those with any sphere of influence that affects this issue - especially our Chaplains - to begin to push against this trend in our police forces. God bless and keep our police from evil - including forces that are detrimental to their own eternal welfare.
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