Alabama Senate votes to allow church to form police dept

Jim
Society & Culture
Church Security

The Alabama Senate has voted to allow a church to form its own police force. Lawmakers on Tuesday voted 24-4 to allow Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham to establish a law enforcement department. The church says it needs its own police officers to keep its school as well as its more than 4,000 person congregation safe. Critics of the bill argue that a police department that reports to church officials could be used to cover up crimes.

Discussion

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Larry Nelson
Thu, 04/13/17 11:47 am

My church pays to have a police officer from our suburb on our premises during our Sunday services at the larger of our two campuses. While technically off-duty, he or she is uniformed, and driving a marked police squad (Ford Explorer, in this case).

We began doing this perhaps 18 months ago. We have over 2,000 present at this campus on Sunday mornings, and we feel that the visual deterrent of their presence against any undesirable or criminal activities is worth the expense.

While patrolling our parking lot one morning, the officer rolled up on someone unscrewing a license plate from the rear bumper of a car. Two other people stood watching. Result?: the officer arrested the three for stealing license plates (they had others in their possession already).

Before, between, and after services the officers also assist in controlling the flow of traffic into & out of our lot.

Besides having a uniformed officer at our Sunday services, we have a volunteer security team. Among our congregation, we have some highly qualified people to do this:

  • current police officers;
  • retired police officers;
  • a current FBI agent;
  • a retired U.S. Secret Service agent (who was assigned to the Presidential Protective Division for part of his career!).