Alabama church wants to set up its own police

what can possibly go wrong ?

source

i have no problem with the concept of a church being entitled to saftey and security

but thier own police force - yep the INITIAL roll out is just one officer - ut once you have an organisation authorise - expansion is easiy

i predict this will do nothing but waste lots of time and money as it gets beaten down at every level upto SCOTUS

see if you look for it - there is still non-partisan political madness running rampant

A religious police! How very saudi arabian

www.oldpolicecellsmuseum.org.uk...

reply to: ignorant_ape

York Minster Cathedral police here in the UK just recently regained powers of arrest, just saying as a precedent...

I'm not ok with this, altho I'm also not enthused with colleges having their own police.
Despite what people say about Leo's they are college educated, well trained professionals. Those standards usually aren't met with private cops.

The answer is to stop reducing local law enforcement, not create more quasi-groups.

originally posted by: Caver78
Despite what people say about Leo's they are college educated, well trained professionals.

Oh really?
Why do friends of mine in the US tell me that their local deputies are minimally educated, corrupt as # and recruited on the whim of the sheriff, especially if they are mates of tthe sheriff?
Should I think they are lying to me now?

a reply to: grainofsand

It would depend on the municipality or county.

Some make having a degree a requirement while others will take military service as well and still others will accept only a high school diploma.

Your friends could very well be correct.

How long before they feel they are entitled to make their own laws ? This is dangerous for everyone but especially the church. I doubt this will make it much further than it already has, the legislature will surely say no dice, but then again.
This has the potential to open the door to every religion forming a police force and enforcing their own brand of law.

The more I think about it the more disturbed I am by it. Whats wrong with regular security or off duty law enforcement you hire for security ? Who is responsible when something goes wrong ? Who is on the hook for the legal bills as a result of a bad situation ?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Ah got ya, thanks for clearing that up for me.
Here you are unlikely to get into the police without a university degree, and even then after a year or two volunteering as an unpaid 'special constable' first.
Competition and standards are high, and that said, if a faith group had the same standards and training for cops I would have no problem.

The UK cathedral cops I mentioned above are a case in point.

originally posted by: grainofsand
Competition and standards are high, and that said, if a faith group had the same standards and training for cops I would have no problem.

The UK cathedral cops I mentioned above are a case in point.

Where I live you need a degree or equivalent military service plus you need to pass the civil service exam and physical.

And I agree, I have no issue with people becoming law enforcement if they are properly trained which, where I live, requires attending and passing the police academy requirements.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Some Jewish areas in London have their own security patrols but they have the same powers of arrest as I do as a citizen.
If they received constable status from the Met police after equivalent training and standards then again I'd have no problem.
I don't give a # about the religion of a person who is following laws to protect people, just their professionalism and integrity.

a reply to: grainofsand

while the minster constabulary is an iteresting aside - its not very relevant to this thread - starred none the less

I think it is relevant because they are employed by the Church of England cathedral.
Okay, they are UK not US but if the church in your OP follow similar structure, training, whatever, then it is absolutely pertinent to raise it as an example in this discussion.

exactly my thoughts as well.

Let them hire security.

a reply to: grainofsand

the reason they are irrelevant is the US separation of church and state

police.tcu.edu...

a reply to: ignorant_ape

How do you explain Texas Christian University police then?
My comments on Cathedral police in the UK appear to remain relevant, but please explain why you think not while explaining the Christian university cops.

*edit*
...and I don't believe in any gods but I know that the faith groups in my area keep every rough sleeper off the streets in their church halls, and if they funded a constabulary in my area fully audited and trained by the police authority I'd have no problem.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Well, when Walt Disney World has their own police, how could this be worse?

Fair is fair.

The Briarwood Presbyterian Church requested to establish its own police department in order to “create a safer campus in a fallen world,” WBMA reported. The church has a campus in Jefferson County and runs a high school in Shelby County.

while a part of me envisions federal funds going to help this quasi religious police force somehow so they can go around enforcing god's laws, another portion of me thinks that they are just asking for something that the community college in my city already has along with most other college and university campuses. I'm not really sure the request could legally be denied.

to avoid tping multiple replies :

church

university

corporation

are all different legal entities

further does " disney police " actuiually have powers of arrest ect - or are they just a overhyped private security firm ?

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Disney does not have its own police force if I remember correctly from when I was there. Pretty sure it was Orange County officers.

a reply to: grainofsand

The UK has a state religion (Anglican,) something that's expressly forbidden in the US. I think that might go some way towards explaining why church police might be seen as a bad or possibly illegal idea.