By Ariele Vaccaro
To watch a family or friend’s arrest can be a painful experience. Emotions run high.
Sometimes an injury or death may be involved. Witnesses may be present during the apprehension.
Whatever the situation, some might say it could only help to have a soothing presence around in the midst of such an event.
That idea appeared to be the Salvation Army’s intention when it unveiled a new chaplaincy program this past Wednesday.
It, along with the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) and a number of local faith communities, will assist at the scene of some crimes to help victims stay calm in contentious situations and allow police officers to complete their work at crime scenes.
They chaplains will form a line of communication between the police force and those affected by the crime being investigated.
The program is in the early stages of development.
Service Extension Director at Salvation Army, Tom Thuecks, is helping to initiate and organize the program.
He said the chaplains will aim to help victims, witnesses, and family members “cope and understand what’s going on” while police officers get to work.
“The police have their job to do. They have to investigate properly,” said Thuecks. “They’re not focusing on emotions.”
He’s already seen potential volunteers express interest in becoming a chaplain.
Those volunteers do not need to be clergymen or women, but they will need to go through extensive training: 10 hours of introductory courses, two days of citizen academy training with the MPD, and two days of spiritual and psychological first-aid training. Thuecks said volunteers will have the opportunity to take a grief-following-trauma course later on.
In addition, volunteers will need to provide a letter of recommendation from their own faith affiliation and undergo a background check.
Faith Builders International Ministries of Milwaukee will also play a part in establishing the program.
However, Thuecks doesn’t see this as a be-all-end-all for contentious civilian-police relations during arrests.
“This isn’t the Salvation Army riding in on a white horse,” said Thuecks.
This year, Milwaukee has already seen significantly more homicides by gun than it had last year between January May.
That means more grieving family members, victims, and witnesses, and more work for the potential chaplains.
According to Thuecks, this program will call for concerted efforts on a number of fronts.
“We can’t do this alone,” said Thuecks.
“We’re nothing more than the conduit that this thing is going to work through. We need the community to step up.”
Although the Salvation Army’s volunteers are accustomed to helping out during natural disasters more often than crime-related situations, Thuecks said that this experience still aligns with the organization’s overall objective.
“God called us to be helpers, to be servants to those that are hurting,” said Thuecks
