Love Thy Neighbourhood

Neighbourhood police officer Dan Stork-Banks explores the power-packed potential of police and church partnership

Policing is an extraordinary commitment. Officers can be deployed to anything from a suicide, to domestic violence, attending a horrific road traffic accident, a rape, a drunken brawl, a terrorist attack or a lost child. One hour an officer might be helping an elderly lady with her shopping or speaking to local school children; the next she might be mediating between clashing communities. Professionalism and personal integrity combined with good training and experience are essential. Some would want to add a thick skin and a cynical personality as well!

When I entered the service a titanic shift in my attitudes was required in order to process and respond to the alien social realities that I was experiencing. I soon realised that the Christian paradigms of sin and evil are not concepts that your average bobby would disagree with. But what surprised me most was that although many churches can articulate the problems facing society, they are often deeply unaware of the specific problems affecting their own communities. Consequently, they are ill-equipped to respond.

Deficient church?
Some time back I was called to a large local church where a drunk, homeless man had walked in, urinated on the floor, and then asked for their help in finding a safe place to stay. My job was to remove him.

Exploring this man’s need outside the building, he told me that he was mentally ill and feared that other members at the shelter he slept at were becoming violent towards him. All he wanted was for someone to communicate this to the local shelter staff, as he was unable to do so himself. He knew that no normal person wanted to help him because he smelt bad, was drunk, and could not sustain any sort of responsible lifestyle. He had heard about Jesus Christ and how he welcomed people in their deepest time of need, so he made the decision that maybe those who followed Jesus today would help him. He was wrong! Instead they called me to turf him out.

Admittedly, my own response when I saw him was not immediately one of Christian charity. But I was still saddened that a church would turn away someone who Jesus would accept unconditionally. Jesus’ example was to welcome the stranger, live in dangerous proximity to the unlovely, and advocate on behalf of the voiceless (even if he urinates in the most holy part of the church). To be honest, I don’t think the people in the church had any idea what to do with this man. Their sad faces told me that it was more of a lack of knowledge than of a lack of compassion that made them unable to meet his needs. Their only option was to get rid of him before he did more damage. My experience is that this sort of situation regularly occurs in our churches. I believe that it is one that can be rectified.

What’s so amazing about Grace?
As I worked with churches that did choose to step into the danger zone, I began to appreciate their extraordinary commitment and innovation. I started to see the potential that could be unleashed in our neighbourhoods if only churches and police combined resources more often. Bumping into Grace whilst on routine patrol one day brought this home.

Grace is an elderly lady who lives alone in social housing. She doesn’t wash and she can use only one room in her three bedroom home because she hoards anything she can lay her hands on. She lives amongst wall to ceiling junk. Her toilets are dry, bare wires stretch across the walls, and the windows on the front of her house are broken or boarded up. I found Grace being bullied by local kids who called her an ‘old slag’, spat at her then ran away in fear and amusement. Her local minister and I arranged a multi agency meeting between the police, fire service, housing office, and estates services. Despite all the resources and good will of the local authorities, Grace refused for years to allow them entry into her home. She was ashamed of the way she lived. Over time her minister encouraged her to let the agencies in to assess the problem; she finally accepted.

This story isn’t over yet, but Grace is slowly allowing us to do more. We are working towards the day her home becomes a happy, clean and safe place for her. This will make her less of a target to the children who are bullying her. Without the counsel from her minister, Grace would be no further forward today. However, our partnership determined a more positive outcome and it is an important demonstration of how faith-sector and public-sector cooperation has enormous social value.

Faith-based social action
Over the last 40 years it has become increasingly clear that successive governments were losing the fight against crime and social breakdown by relying on the criminal justice system and welfare state alone. In response to this the police commissioned experiments to increase public confidence and improve relationships with the community, as well as reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. The result was to give the public greater influence over local priorities, so the right interventions could be made for everyone’s benefit. This became known as National Neighbourhood Policing Programme in 2005 when the government provided both political support and support with the introduction of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs).

Today, teams of police officers and PCSOs are now dedicated to specific neighbourhoods where they maintain a visible presence on the streets and form a specialized pool of local knowledge. The new ethos focuses less on the police giving all the answers to crime reduction. Now communities are co-opted into providing solutions to their own problems, with local government and the police working with them in partnership. It is the job of your neighbourhood policing teams to work with local authorities, charities, businesses, schools and faith groups, identifying local problems, and developing sustainable solutions that draw upon local resources. It is this new ethos that I believe unlocks so much faith-sector potential.

Entering the danger zone
Jesus ministered to those whom society pushed to the margins: the woman caught in adultery, the violent demon-possessed man living amongst the graves, the homeless, lepers, drunks, prostitutes, liars, and thieves. Therefore bringing dignity to those who have none, and creating a culture of hope must be part of the identity of a local church. Jesus spent more time in the ghetto than he did in the temple because his father remembers the ones society wants to forget. But how many congregations can hand-on-heart say that they are ministering to individuals and families who have a set of needs that make most people squeamish? For a church dedicated to Jesus’ example, partnership with your local police is an opportunity worth exploring.

Real partnership
The police record and analyze mounds of local data. What streets are being hit for car crime, and who are the perpetrators? Where are the drugs being sold, by who and to whom? What is causing an area to suffer from juvenile nuisance, or drink related violence? Why are there feuds between different cultural communities and where are the hotspots for racism? Whilst there are some data protection constraints, much of this information can be delivered to local churches. Your local police officers patrol the front line of your community every day.

Churches, on the other hand, control an enormous amount of hardware: car parks, buildings, sound equipment, kitchens, toilets, and vehicles. They offer huge human resource potential and represent people of different cultures, ages, financial backgrounds and lifestyles. We must try combining church resources with specialist local knowledge and professional multi-agency skills. Add some innovation, prayer, sacrifice and risk taking, and the church will be well on its way to challenging poverty and exclusion, reducing crime, building hope, opportunity and social capitol.

How to establish local partnerships in your area

Increasing numbers of churches are approaching the police asking to get involved in local strategic partnerships and crime and disorder reduction partnerships. Write to the borough liason officer at your local police station and ask him or her to send a local PC or Police and Community Support Officer (PCSO) to speak at a church meeting.

Why not adopt a cop? The ‘Adopt a Cop’ scheme pioneered by the Christian Police Association encourages churches to adopt in prayer a member of their local police force, and to pray for all who work in their local police station. For an information pack visit www.cpuk.net or call 01234 272865.

Faithworks member and police officer Andy Briers is pioneering a scheme bringing together churches and police in London. Officers will work alongside volunteers from local churches to mentor young people, offering them support, advice, guidance and friendship. Andy’s hope is to help reintegrate back into society those at risk of truancy and exclusion and those involved in anti-social behaviour. His goal is to see victim suites set up for young people who are victims of crime; these would provide self esteem classes and a safe haven for them to express themselves and relax. For more information contact andy.briers@btinternet.com

You could also research one of the many other groups encouraging church and police partnership: HOPE08, Street Pastors, Redeeming our Communities or Faith & Football.

Dan Stork-Banks and Andy Briers have written a resource page for churches on how to work more effectively with those on the margins of your local community. Click here to read it.

PC Dan Stork-Banks is pioneering new ways for the police and professionals to engage hard to reach faith groups and advises on issues of religion and identity in society and the workplace. Dan serves as part of a neighbourhood policing team in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and is branch leader for Hampshire Christian Police Association.