Faith & Values
A Higher Calling
Religious leaders learn slang in order to help the police department
Kent J. Brockwell/Richmond.com
Social worker Brenda Roots talked to the group about different kinds of counseling techniques as well as how important it is for the counselor to take care of their own needs.
Dionne Waugh
Richmond.com
Monday, October 22, 2007
As the women and men of faith quieted down for class, Richmond police Lt. Sybil El-Amin placed a single card on the table in front of them.
"Don't turn it over," she said.
On one side of the oversized, red and green playing cards was a single word. Some of the students chuckled and others wondered aloud what the word meant.
"When I call on you, try to use the word in a sentence," El-Amin told them.
She pointed to one woman. "This room is as cold as 'ice,'" the woman said, using the word on her card.
"I like to 'floss' my teeth?" one man said after a pause.
El-Amin smiled. It's OK if you don't know the real meaning behind the slang word, she said, but you're going to have to try to learn.
"To communicate with victims or criminals, you're going to have to be able to do that on their level," El-Amin said.
On the backs of the cards, definitions were given for the slang words. "Ice" is diamonds or jewelry; "flossing" means to act like someone you're not.
She used the game to teach the group of Richmond religious leaders one example of issues they might encounter with when they become a police chaplain. About 30 Richmond area residents are attending the course, which started this month and lasts through December.
They're meeting once a week to discuss such things as crisis situations, multicultural issues, death and grief counseling. The department has a need for chaplains both to aid the officers and the community, said GiTonya Parker with the Richmond Police Department. The chaplains will all be volunteers, she said.
The Rev. Geraldyn Harrison of the Unity Fellowship Church of Richmond said the class was an answer to her prayer. As a former paramedic who's worked with police officers, Harrison has witnessed firsthand what they have to deal with.
"I know there's a great need," she said. "This is something I've always wanted to do. Richmond is a small enough town that I can do this."
During one of the sessions, El-Amin explained that police officers may seem disconnected or tough to get to know because of the nature of their jobs. They're often called out only to fix problems when something bad happens and they must control how they react to situations like seeing a dead body or dealing with a child that's been molested.
Oftentimes the last thing they want to do when they go home is fix situations there or talk about their day, she said. There aren't many jobs where a person leaves home and doesn't know for sure if they're going to come home at night, she said.
But once you're in with police officers, once they know you, you're in for life, El-Amin said.
"We're a peculiar people," she said.
The Rev. Cheryl Henry of 5th Street Baptist Church said learning that was a surprise to her.
"I now understand why they need to be the way they are," she said. "I can understand the culture."
Henry said once she completes the program, she worries about her reaction if she sees a dead body.
"I'll have to make sure I pray before I leave. It's a growing process for me too," she said. "I hope to be able to use all my skill sets and knowledge and just be the best chaplain I can be."
Her husband, the Rev. Darwin Henry Sr., has a background in law enforcement and said timing is everything when a chaplain arrives on the scene, especially knowing how to present themselves.
"Knowing both sides of the spectrum and how the community views police officers and how the police view the community, they need someone that can take their burden and bring it through. They need someone to talk to," he said.
"I want to be more of an assistant to the police department. They need more than just physical aid. They need mental and spiritual aid."