FULLERTON : Police Seek Clergy for Special Program

Members of the clergy will soon don special badges, carry pagers and ride along with Fullerton police officers.

As part of a plan approved by the City Council last week, the Police Department will recruit as many as two dozen chaplains to provide counseling to crime victims, substance abusers, suicidal persons and those involved in domestic disputes.

Each day, at least one member of the clergy will be on 24-hour call, available to go to the scene of a serious accident or along with an officer to notify a relative of a loved one’s death.

“We’re trying to fill a space that is presently unfilled,” Police Chief Phil Goehring said.

The program will be modeled after one started in La Habra last November. That program has attracted 19 clergy members, with plans to have a staff of 31 so each chaplain is on duty only one day a month.

For the Fullerton program, the chaplain must be an ordained or licensed minister employed full time in a church or church-related organization. The minister also must have four years experience in counseling services such as youth grief counseling or ministry to the sick and homeless.

The department also will look for bilingual chaplains. Police officials said that anyone will have the right to refuse the services of a chaplain.

To start off, Goehring will send out invitations to the religious community seeking volunteers. Immediate plans are to form an executive committee including a small unit of chaplains, then expand to as many as 31 members.