|
Latest News
From bully pulpit, Pittsburgh police chief preaches faith-based policing
by Jill King Greenwood, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
|
|
November 5, 2007 A key solution to the rising tide of crime in the Pittsburgh region lies behind the door of every church, city police Chief Nate Harper said.
He and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in June kicked off "52 Weeks of Peace" -- a faith-based approach to policing -- and an Adopt-A-Block program endorsed by 14 churches and a community group. The initiative involves police officers and church members serving as chaplains for other officers, victims of crime and troubled youngsters. The goal is to strengthen the connection between faith-based organizations, law enforcement and teens headed down the wrong path, Harper said. |
|
Similar programs have worked elsewhere across the country, and Harper said he hopes the initiative will lead to a big decrease in crime in Pittsburgh.
"Any great or good movement started in the church," Harper said. "Whether it’s the Catholic church, Protestant, Baptist, Methodist, synagogues or mosques, the church is the spiritual soul of a city. We are in a crisis, and we have an entire generation that has been lost. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find them. We need the help of the church to rescue these kids and restore safety to our streets."
Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Lincoln-Larimer signed up for the Adopt-A-Block program last week. Under the program, congregations can ask the police bureau for youth and adult anti-violence programs, request park-and-walk patrols around the churches during service hours and participate in bicycle giveaways for children during the winter holidays. The police can schedule a time for the congregation’s youngsters to meet Steelers players and talk about reaching personal goals and staying safe, said city police Lt. Donna Sims.
Congregations agree to maintain a one-block area around the church and keep it free of litter and debris.
Mt. Zion Pastor Eugene Downing said his 500-member congregation is excited about the city’s faith-based approach to policing.
"This is about more than just having church members report problems they see to the police," Downing said. "It’s about us reaching out to our youth, trying to connect and give them a stronger foundation. Maybe we can help them make better choices in their lives. This may recharge their hope, because if you lose hope, you have nothing left."
GETTING A RESPONSE
Ed Gainey, Ravenstahl’s director of grants and development, said the movement is "about human development and how we can engage people to help them see a better way."
Gainey uses his deep faith and natural talent for public speaking to encourage church members to use the city’s "silent witness" program to help police. Anyone with information about a crime can list those details anonymously on a "silent complaint" form and give it to a church leader, who then will give it to police.
So far, the "silent witness" program has generated five credible complaint forms from parishioners, Gainey said. Last week, one churchgoer provided information that led to the arrest of a homicide suspect, Harper said. He declined to elaborate.
"We’re not asking them to snitch," Gainey said. "We’re asking them to testify to save a life."
More than 200 people have attended five sessions on faith-based policing in local churches so far. More sessions are planned.
"We have to engage the church because one thing holds true: Every great movement that’s ever happened in the world has always been birthed out of the church, whether it’s the civil rights movement or whatever it is," Gainey said.
City police Officer Tonya Montgomery-Ford, who helps coordinate the Adopt-A-Block program, said it’s important for churches and the police to try to bring troubled youth into the flock "as they are."
"We need to make sure we aren’t judging them," Montgomery-Ford said. "We need to accept them in their baggy jeans and tight skirts and just concentrate on trying to save some of the ones that are on the fence toward a life of crime, or even some of the hard-core criminals. They need to know that someone cares."
SUCCESS ELSEWHERE
The Oakland, Calif., police department kicked off a similar faith-based initiative in February. Police spokesman Roland Holmgren said the rate of slayings and other violent crimes has fallen since law-enforcement officials started partnering with churches to reach out to the community.
"We’ve seen some positive gains," Holmgren said. "We’re rebuilding the relationships that had been knocked down over the years. There’s a disconnect with youth and that led to an increase in youth-violence. We’re trying to combat that."
In March 2006, then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that six cities would receive $2.5 million as part of an initiative to reduce gang violence. The cities -- Tampa, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Dallas/Fort Worth, Milwaukee and Philadelphia -- must use the money for enforcement and prevention efforts and on faith-based programs designed to help criminals readjust to society after release from prison.
The Rev. David McFarland of the Unitarian Universalist Church in the North Side said people might argue that gang members and violent criminals aren’t going to church, so a faith-based approach to fighting crime won’t work. But he disagrees.
"Their mothers and aunts and grandmothers and other family members are probably going to church," McFarland said. "And we need to give them every tool possible to intervene and try to change this behavior. It will take all of us to turn this around."
|
|
|
Nextwork.