By Gary C. Kuncl

They work at all hours, generally for no pay, to help people get through some of the worst days of their lives. They stand beside peace officers in dangerous situations, though they themselves are unarmed. And sometimes they get hurt. Some are ordained ministers, and others are well-trained lay volunteers.

They are police chaplains.

Most law enforcement agencies in Tulare County are served by chaplaincy programs. Although the programs differ in form and size, all of them exist to support and assist the officers in their day-to-day work. Chaplains are available on a twenty-four-hour basis to support and assist officers and their families with personal crises. They also help crime victims and other community members get through critical or crisis events in their lives. Moreover, they do these things regardless of the person’s religious preference.

Here is a brief look at five representative chaplaincy programs within Tulare County.

Tulare County Sheriff’s Department

According to Kevin Mizner, coordinator of Chaplain Services for the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, their program is diverse, extensive and involves twelve ordained ministers and lay chaplains. A retired sheriff’s captain, Mizner is also a minister with the Calvary Chapel of Visalia.

The chaplains serve in the Sheriff’s substation area in which they live. One chaplain serves in the Pixley Area, one in Porterville and one in the Orosi Area. The rest serve in the Visalia Headquarters Area. Most chaplains assist the sworn officers. However, one chaplain, Lydia Molinar, works directly with the clerical, dispatch and records personnel.

Police chaplains often serve “above and beyond their required duties and are in harm’s way while out patrolling with the deputies.” Mizner noted. When Deputy Kevin Elium was killed in a vehicle collision on October 7, 2005, Chaplain Lee Sorenson was riding with him. According to Mizner, Sorenson was so seriously injured, he was not expected to survive. However, Sorenson did in fact recover after an extended hospital stay and now serves as chaplain for a sheriff’s department in Washington State, Mizner said.

Another example: When Sergeant Greg Hernandez was gravely injured in a traffic collision on February 2, 2009, chaplains stayed with Hernandez and his family continually for four days in a Fresno hospital until he died. Because the family was keeping a vigil and could not attend church, the chaplains held a service at the hospital in a conference room large enough to hold 100 people. “It was filled with family and cops praying,” Mizner said.

To Tulare County Sheriff Bill Wittman, it is important to have a chaplain corps he can call on when an officer is injured or killed. The chaplains enable the department to do much more for the families of such officers. The chaplains lend support and can provide assistance. “Our chaplains can also help many people out in the community who have no one else to turn to,” Wittman added.

Woodlake and Farmersville Programs

Patrick Lozano serves as chaplain for both the Farmersville and Woodlake Police Departments. Although now a business owner, Lozano draws on eleven years of previous experience as a peace officer. For five years, he attended a weekend course for lay ministry and leadership through the Catholic Diocese of Fresno. Lozano rides along with patrol officers eight to ten hours each week and is constantly on-call. “It is the most fulfilling ministry work I’ve ever done in my life,” he said. Although new to Farmersville PD, Lozano has assisted Woodlake officers with a variety of situations, from suicide threats to guiding juveniles away from trouble with the law.

Visalia Police Department

Bob Grenier, pastor of Calvary Chapel of Visalia, heads up the chaplaincy program for the Visalia Police Department, overseeing the work of seven other chaplains. Visalia chaplains commit to be on-call for one week and ride on patrol for eight hours each month. Mike Buford, assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel, is another Visalia PD chaplain. Grenier, Buford and other Visalia PD chaplains deal with diverse situations, ranging from assisting crime victims to comforting families of injured and killed officers. They have also, on occasion, officiated at funerals for indigent persons or families who have no church affiliation.

Chaplains at Porterville PD

Pastor Don Roulsten of the Grand Avenue United Methodist Church is senior chaplain for the Porterville Police Department. Five other chaplains serve the department. Roulsten will never forget a situation in 1994 in which he dealt with the family of a little boy who had drowned. What he remembers most was the look on the officer’s face in the emergency room. The officer, Ernie Garay, was standing over the child. “And you could see he wanted to will life into that baby,” Roulsten said.

Riding Along

In all five departments, riding with the officers is both necessary and beneficial. Roulsten sees benefits to the chaplain from watching the officers work and learning what is happening in the community. According to Mizner, “It is important just to be there for the deputies to encourage and support them. Acceptance by the officers is crucial. It takes time to gain their trust personally and professionally. It only comes with time and a lot of nonjudgmental listening and confidentiality.”

Buford noted that, most of the time, the conversation is “small talk about the latest ballgame and such.” But periodically, officers bring up their own personal issues or ask questions about religion or scripture. “And for that to happen, the officer must trust you,” he said.

Delivering Difficult News

A sad and sensitive duty for peace officers is notifying members of the community that a loved one has died or been killed. By virtue of their training and availability, police chaplains are ideally suited to assist officers. Because officers are subject to being called to other incidents, and because most departments have constant calls for service, they are hard put to spend the necessary time with grieving survivors. Chaplains can do this.

According to Roulsten, chaplains can assist by remaining with the grieving persons to answer their questions, identify resources and provide emotional support. They also help by notifying, if possible, the person’s family and their spiritual advisor. A typical case for Buford involved assisting an officer with an elderly man whose wife had just died. The man, a poet, was in a grieving process. For more than two hours, Buford talked with the man about his poetry. “He just needed to share, and I basically listened. After our talk, he was in much better shape,” Buford noted. “I felt I had accomplished something that day.”

Officer-Involved Shootings

The hardest cases of all for everyone affected are officer-involved shootings. If the officer is killed or seriously injured, the officer’s family and fellow officers need the immediate support a chaplain can provide. On the other hand, if the officer has survived the confrontation, he or she needs a lot of support.

Ron Richardson is a chaplaincy trainer of national note. In addition to serving as a chaplain for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, he directs Chaplain Services International, an organization of 30,000 employees serving in all fifty states and in all Canadian provinces.

According to Richardson, “There is always a cost to the surviving officer’s well-being. This is why a chaplain should go to the scene of every officer-involved shooting. The chaplain’s job is to assess the officer’s condition and try to provide immediate care and comfort. I try to reduce the officer’s stress level and assist any other way I can. This includes being there for the family and for other involved officers.”

Officers In Trouble

Because peace officers are human, a few of them get into serious trouble and are fired from their departments. Some are prosecuted when a crime is involved. Here again, Richardson believes chaplains should stand ready to be good listeners and assist the officer and his or her family with emotional support. Richardson cited a recent case in which he dealt with a man in Austin, Texas who had just been fired as a result of an impropriety. Richardson phoned the man, who said he had a ninety-day supply of a prescription drug and intended to swallow the all the pills.

After talking at length with the man, Richardson learned his location and notified the Austin Police, who found and detained him. Two weeks later, the man telephoned Richardson and thanked him for preventing his suicide. Thanks to their lengthy conversation, the man had accepted responsibility for his actions and resolved to straighten out his life. Said Richardson of this happy outcome, “It was a ‘high-five’ feeling.”

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