Chaplain program returns to DPD

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 3, 2005

DEMOPOLIS-Members of the Demopolis Police Department are here to protect and serve the community, but even they need guidance every once in a while.

Thus, two local pastors have decided to re-start the volunteer Chaplain program to help the city’s police force in its time of need.

“What you tell us will be confidential and won’t go to the chief,” Pastor Mickey Green of Church Aflame told officers. “What you tell us will stay in the car we’re riding in.”

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Green told officers he and Pastor Marshall Murphy of First Christian Church can “offer an independent view” to help them cope with death, divorce, of whatever the situation may be.

“We wanted to do it,” Green said. “We felt like it needed to be done.”

Green also said he and Murphy may attend a Chaplain class which will teach them how to be a negotiation tool for the force.

“We want to be a part of helping you do a good job,” he said. “We are not afraid to go through a crisis.”

Pastor Murphy told officers he did not have much past experience with a police force, unlike his counterpart whose son-in-law is an officer, but said he “is looking forward to getting to know” the officers.

“I wanted my church to be as active in the community as we could,” said Murphy.

The pastors hope to get the program underway in a week or two.