The St. Joseph Police Department volunteer Chaplain Corps began in 1999 under the leadership of Chaplain Jim Stuck. Currently the Chaplain Corp consists of Ken Kirk, Bob Hodkins, Danny Biddinger, Lori Chester, Mike Chester, Gayron Haywood, John Haywood, Jim Morgan, Steve Crawford and Tom Frisby.
All Members of the Chaplain Corps must be endorsed and certified in good standing by a recognized religious body. They must also have at least 5 years of ministry experience.
Most members of the Corps are members in the International Conference of Police Chaplains (ICPC). ICPC is the training organization for 1000's of chaplains internationally. Training includes areas of Death Notification, Officer Burnout, Post Shooting Syndrome, Law Enforcement Family Issues, Substance Abuse, Officer Injury and Death, Officer and Citizen Suicide, Critical Incident Stress Management, Victim Care, "Crisis Prevention, Intervention and Postvention" and Advance Care Planning. With sufficient training, certification is issued by ICPC.
The Chaplain Corps has interaction with officers and citizens through ride-alongs, roll calls, community events and crisis response. Our Chaplain Corps is available to the Department, it's officers, personnel, and their families, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year either through the Comunication Center or by pager notification.
Chaplains are useful to the Police officers and department personnel by:
- Confidential discussions with officers and/or department members and their families
- Hospital or home visitation of officers and/or department personnel when sick or injured
- Provide Officer assistance in death notification
- Serving as a liaison with other members of the clergy
- Provide reliable answers to religious questions
- Offer emotional and spiritual support to officers and department personnel
- Offer prayer at special occasions and events.
- Providing assistance to victims
- Emotional and spiritual support
- Provide interim support until other appropriate family\persons arrive
- Assist in providing for the spiritual needs of prisoners
- Represent the Police Department at community events and functions as requested
