Shomreem Police Ministries

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they shall be called children of G-d.

A Ministry Of

Care In Times Of Crisis

Police Shomreem Ministries

Police Shomreem Ministries is a ministry of care that works with local public safety and police agencies to liaison between local ministers and the agency in need of chaplaincy services. Police Shomreem Ministries partnerships with local ministers who are willing to volunteer their services as on-call chaplains to local police departments and public safety agencies who need chaplaincy services. This ministry is a chaplaincy ministry to public safety first responders, law enforcement support personnel, emergency services agents, disaster services agencies and the citizens of those communities where the agencies are located. Police Shomreem Ministries works with ministers and mental health professionals who serve those who are in need of their services. Police Shomreem Ministries also serves with several disaster relief agencies needing disaster relief, emotional and spiritual care chaplaincy services. Our chaplains are experienced, trained, licensed and denominationally endorsed public safety and disaster relief chaplains.

Police Shomreem Ministries is an independent, on call, emergency services, public safety and disaster relief chaplaincy. We are on-call for any law enforcement agency or community that is in need of chaplaincy services. We have served several police departments in Lake, McHenry and Cook counties since we started this 501(c)3 ministry. We have also served in call-outs in central Illinois and Wisconsin. We have covered for public safety chaplains who were either not available to respond to situations or while they were out of town. We have served under the Department of Homeland Security numerous times. We have served with and under the incident command of the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the Wisconsin Emergency Management Agency (WEM). We have served under disaster services agencies affiliated with the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD).

Our heart is to minister to emergency services personnel and the people that they come in contact with. Our ministry has served in several jurisdictions throughout the years. We have served in police chaplaincy and disaster relief chaplaincy. We have learned that the police are a people group that is often forgotten when it comes to emotional and spiritual care. There are many police departments in Lake County, Illinois, that don’t have trained and experienced police chaplains working with them. Police officers may not feel comfortable talking to their bosses or the department’s employee assistance people for fear of harassment, ridicule or the loss of their job. We chaplains can be there when an officer is in need. We are able to minister to their needs confidentially. Also, as chaplains who serve with police agencies, we are able to help that agency minister to the survivors of critical life experiences. Those negative experiences can crush a person’s emotional and spiritual well-being. We can be there to help them over the initial crisis and refer them for short term or long term help, as needed.

This is often illustrated powerfully during a local or large scale crisis or disaster situation. For example, the first responders and the municipal workers become overloaded seeing their town destroyed and the people crushed. They become emotionally and spiritually crushed even if they didn’t suffer any personal loss. They become witness-victims. Our experience has shown us during the 2008 Midwest floods that a small town can be devastated by the disaster but strengthened by individuals ministering to one another. Police Shomreem Ministry chaplains were deployed with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief team to the small town of Reedsburg, Wisconsin. Their town was flooded by a river that went through the heart of the town. During that experience we were able to minister to numerous people who were survivors of the total loss of their earthly homes and possessions. To be there in those critical times in a person’s life illustrates to them that they are not alone and that someone cares. Sometimes they would ask us to pray for them, expecting us to pray later. When we offered to pray with them right there, they were truly comforted. We were able to direct them back to G-d as their ultimate helper. We were also able to refer them to all types of resources that could help them in their time of need. We were able to help restore hope. Even those who experienced no physical losses in the floods were devastated by watching those people who had lost everything. In some instances it was just as traumatic for them. We were able to be there, hold their hand and sometimes cry with them. They found out that they were not alone. They had someone who cared enough to be there and listen to what they needed to talk about. This deployment touched many people in a positive way in the midst of disaster.

After Katrina one of our chaplains was deployed to bring needed supplies down to Pearlington, MS. Our ministry coordinated a group of church members all over the USA to make notifications to family members for the Katrina survivors. This was operated and administered by the amateur (ham) radio, internet and telephone. This was an excellent example of local religious organizations working together, across denominational and religious faiths to help a community in need. Some of our chaplains are amateur (ham) radio operators and serve with amateur radio emergency services.

We served in the town of Watseka, IL. during the floods in 2008. We coordinated the response of disaster services workers to help the town clean up after the waters receded. We also ministered to the members of a local church in town that suffered the total loss of their church building, above and beyond the damage to their residences. We helped coordinate the financial aid needed to this local church to survive. We are continuing to work with them, to this day. Many lives were touched by this deployment.

We have also served in the aftermath of severe storms and tornados. We have served in times of crisis following vehicular crashes. We have been called into local hospitals to help family members in times of loss or critical medical conditions. We have been there to minister to the attendees of disaster informational meeting and town hall meetings about critical incidents.

As emergency services chaplains we are also deployed to local hospitals where we are able to be there with the sick or injured and comfort their loved ones. Sometimes we are required to make death notifications. During these times it is best to have an emotional and spiritual caregiver, like a chaplain, comfort them as the bad news is relayed. This is also the case when the police ask us to go with them to make a death notification. It is much better to have a trained and experienced chaplain make this notification than a police officer who may not have the proper training.

We have been able to minister to officers who have been involved in shooting related incidents, duty related vehicle crashes and suicide incidents. Like the other above types of incidents this too is a personal critical incident for the person involved, their family members and their co-workers. Being there to help in this time of need is a blessing to them. The people we serve are blessed as we minister to them just like the “Good Samaritan” did in Luke Chapter 10: Verses 30-37. We are blessed to be of service and witness how the L-rd works.

Sometimes we are called to minister to people who are at the end of their rope and thinking of suicide. Sometimes this is a thought for the future and sometimes an immediate threat. An instance of this is being called by an officer’s sergeant who received a call from the wife of that officer. Her comment was that her husband is sitting at the kitchen table, cleaning his weapon for two hours and that he wouldn’t answer any of her questions. If the police responded alone there could have been a critical incident. A chaplain that he knows and trusts went and there was a positive effect on the interaction and outcome. He received the help that he needed and he is fine today.

Members of our ministry have been called upon to minister to leaders of congregations and churches. They suffer the same types of crisis that police officer experience. They witness some of the same types of incidents that law enforcement agents witness. Sometimes they serve their congregational members seven days a week and they are on call 24 hours a day. They too can be witness-victims or suffer from compassion fatigue.

We have been able to help local church members through several negative life experiences. Churches benefit from having trained and experienced chaplains on staff or on-call. Together with the pastor and professional mental health counselors, we can help these church members during times of crisis. We are available to the local church in the event of their being involved with people who survived critical incidents.

We minister to the needs of many emergency services personnel throughout the year. The situations we respond to are vast and many.

One of the functions of Police Shomreem Ministries is to help local churches train up their members who feel the call to chaplaincy. We have been working with several new chaplaincy ministries, helping them to learn what is needed to be successful in their ministry of presence to people in need. Our ministry has specific requirements of those who wish to be serving with us in the mission fields. We require specific training, certifications, experience and a criminal background investigation. We have a list of trainings that we recommend to chaplaincy ministers and ministries. We also have connections with resources where these trainings can be obtained at a reasonable cost. If a local church is interested in discipling chaplains for service in the community, we will help in any way we can. We have a list of training and associational resources that a local church can use to plan the training and certification of their chaplaincy candidates. The chaplains serving Police Shomreem Ministries have been involved in chaplaincy for a long time and they can bring experience to you as you train up chaplains in your local church for service in your community.

We administer training in chaplaincy to church members who feel called to serve their communities. This training class helps prepare the chaplaincy candidates to serve effectively in chaplaincy. We help in the mentoring process of those who are called to chaplaincy service. We are currently helping two local law enforcement agencies start police chaplaincy programs. We have been involved in helping several other law enforcement agencies start chaplaincy programs. We have helped several local churches all over the Midwest in their efforts to be involved in emergency services and disaster relief chaplaincy.

Police Shomreem Ministries serves in disaster relief chaplaincy under FEMA with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and the Salvation Army Disaster Services. We have been deployed to all types of disasters, natural and manmade. We continually train with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and the Salvation Army Disaster Services. We recommend that every local church become involved in disaster relief activities. The Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and the Salvation Army Disaster Services welcome volunteers who wish to serve in areas affected by all types of disasters. In the event that there is a devastating tornado we should be ready to respond with an army of trained emotional and spiritual caregivers who can bring a ministry of presence to those in crisis and refer those who need professional mental health care to recover from the experience.

Police Shomreem Ministries is an independent Judeo-Christian non-profit religious entity, registered in the state of Illinois and recorded in Lake County Illinois. Police Shomreem Ministries is a tax exempt religious charity corporation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. This ministry operates solely on the donations, gifts and love offerings that are given by the people who want to help those who are suffering from or through the negative experiences of life.

Please view the other pages of this web site for further information. Our ministry purpose page explains why we serve the way we serve.

Police Shomreem Ministries Brochure

We work with, train with and support the following chaplaincy, disaster relief, mental health counseling groups and law enforcement associations that serve the law enforcement and the public in times of great tribulation, hardship, pain and suffering.

Police Shomreem Ministries does not directly work under nor is it directly associated with any of the local, state or national Shomrim Society lodges. We do however strongly support these associations of Jewish police officers.

Police Chaplains & Disaster Relief Chaplains

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