By Jennifer Ortiz
Staff Writer
HOWELL – Police Chief Andrew Kudrick said he regularly looks for ways to expand services in the Howell Police Department to make it a better place for employees. To that end, Kudrick recently initiated a chaplains program in the department.
The program has created a partnership with religious leaders who assist police officers and the community. The religious leaders are a resource during times of crisis or tragedy, providing emotional and spiritual support to those who require that support. The goal of a volunteer chaplain is to provide balance in the community.
Kudrick said the idea to create a police chaplain program began last summer.
“When I became chief in July, I was approached by members of the New Jersey Institutional Chaplain’s Association, which is based in Lakewood and is run by the Orthodox Jewish community,” he said. “They are heavily involved with a lot of police departments in Ocean County and I knew it was something that could benefit my agency. We never had a chaplain program here.”
Kudrick said he could see the benefit of such a program.
“At the same time, I was putting together a program with Lynn Regan from the CFC Loud N Clear Foundation. The foundation is a community-based drug recovery program run out of Howell that we partnered with to help addicts,” Kudrick said.
“I said, ‘You know what? Now is a great time to incorporate the chaplains into our opiate abuse response calls.’ So now, in addition to bringing in Lynn’s team at the scene of an overdose to help the family in need, we are going to bring in the chaplains as well. If (the family) would rather deal with somebody on the spiritual side, that is available to them,” the chief added.
Kudrick said the chaplain program has progressed from assisting addicts and their families to the point where it is now a support system for Howell’s police officers as they deal with the stress that is inherent with their position.
“Sometimes you need that outside help, but that outside help has to understand the police culture. That is what this chaplain’s program does. They work very closely with law enforcement, some are retired police officers, so they understand it,” Kudrick said.
The police chief said there are about 15 volunteer chaplains. During training, the chaplains learned how to handle situations they may encounter during their service with the police department, such as death, officer injury, suicide, law enforcement family, diversity and more.
“The (chaplains) are going to ride with the officers. They are going to be exposed to what an officer’s job is; they are there not only to listen to the police officers, but to learn and understand what happens on the road and to be there for any member of the public should they need it if a serious call comes in,” Kudrick said.
Chris McCarrick, the pastor at the Cornerstone Calvary Chapel, Howell, is a chaplain volunteer with experience during superstorm Sandy, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and post-tropical storm Katrina.
McCarrick said volunteers of different faiths are available to meet the spiritual needs of the police force and the community. He said an individual does not necessarily have to be religious to receive the benefits of a chaplain’s services.
“In many ways, we are there as a listening ear,” McCarrick said. “One thing we call it, within our world, is a ministry of presence, where sometimes a person is going through a tragedy of some kind, even if they are not religious, just having someone there who cares can be helpful. Obviously, if they want to talk about religious things like God, we are available, but we want to be very careful and respectful of everyone’s current position.”
McCarrick said that during their training, the volunteers learned about what police officers face and witness in society.
“They showed us some graphic videos of what officers go through, the way they are treated by society, and you get a greater appreciation for police officers for what they do and go through. We learned about the potential of family issues with officers, potential suicides, things they struggle with,” the pastor said.
Kudrick said the chaplains’ program is in its early stages and he said he is excited about how it will continue to develop. Individuals who may be interested in volunteering may contact Capt. John Storrow at [email protected] for additional information.