It may never be possible to be completely safe when dealing with persons who are mentally unstable and in crisis exacerbated by being homeless. However, we must always be mindful of our attitude in approaching these ministries, beginning with calling them "Homeless" programs. This identifies the person by their condition rather than as children of God. We must guard against the sense of "us" vs. "them", the receivers of our largesse, rather than the acknowlegement that we are all in this together.

While our true safety is only in Christ, I believe we often stop short of confronting the real underlying problems and assuage ourselves with offering handouts. Yes, food pantries and outreach to our brothers and sisters who are homeless meets the immediate need; however, where is our Church when it comes advocating for better access to mental health care and restrictions on access to guns? Too often it is easier to love justice and do mercy instead of following the words of Micah to "do justice and love mercy." Doing justice means confronting the underlying systemic sin.

Church safety and security are high-growth industries in the wake of various shootings and other incidents, including the killings at the Unitarian-Universalist church in Tennessee, the shooting at the Kansas church, and many more. But most police departments do crime security surveys for free.

Key recommendations typically are:

- Know who is in your building at all times.
- Limit the ability of persons to move around in your parish building. For instance, someone who enters the food pantry should not have open access to a school or office space.
- Train your ushers to respond appropriately in the case of suspicious behavior. In many cases, there are advance signs of trouble in the offing.
- Ensure that clergy and office staff have the ability to get help in a hurry. For example, you might arrange that if a priest calls the parish administrator and says, "Send my next appointment in," she or he needs the police right away.
- Maintain adequate lighting and physical security. An alarm system is great but cannot take the place of adequate locks and other physical security.
- Know how you will respond to various events and have a written plan. Events to consider include weather emergencies, health emergencies, disruptions to the physical plant (like burst water lines or lack of heat), protests, disruptions to services, active shooters, and more.
- Do not hesitate to contact police if something doesn't feel right. It's often easier to prevent a problem than deal with it later.
- If you arrive at your church building and discover signs of an incident (broken glass, signs of violence, suicide notes, etc.,) do not enter or intervene. Leave immediately and get emergency help.
- Have a parish security committee.

Sooner or later, every parish has an emergency. The Maryland incident underscores that it can and does happen "here." Kudos to the diocese for recognizing this and encouraging efforts to promote the safety of all involved.

Thoughts and prayers for all who deal with human suffering and violence of every sort.

Eric Bonetti

I do not think I am alone, as a church employee, in the following scenarios ... and I don't think a lot of people realize the things that many in ministry deal with in regards to safety and security. I don't bring these things up as a "poor me" kind of thing, but instead as a reality of just how things are. As someone who is often alone in the church building, and yet we, the Church, want to offer help and ministry to all, we deal with many things.... one thing to know is that wasp spray is more effective, and has a longer reach, then pepper spray. I don't mean to sound condescending in that comment, just something that may prevent danger to an employee who has dealings often with some homeless who may have addictions, and with mentally unstable people on a regular basis. Wasp spray is not something that may ever have to be used (haven't had to use it here). But I have had to call police on some people, get stern and ask a person to leave, dealt with some homeless men who have been drunk and obnoxious, and some women who have been mad they didn't get cash instead of food items, and left swearing and then threatened to burn down the church (also reported that to the police), and I have on occasion run to lock the doors after being afraid of some people too, and left for home early myself when the coast was clear from them. Yet, I keep coming back, and have done so for over 18 years as Parish Administrator. I know others, priests and laity, who have done so longer than that. So, what are others doing for security, and yet not appearing paranoid over every person who comes for help, the majority of them, who are just down on their luck, having hard times and don't want to be looked at as a threat when they finally get up courage to come and ask the Church for help. Short of putting in a drive up window, with a bucket to dispense food items so we can leave our doors locked and feel "safe", any ideas?

Thank you, Roberta. I think people have to be able to discuss their legitimate fears and how they deal with them.

I work with the homeless several days every week and am concerned that an overzealous and knee-jerk response will happen in church communities. Yes there are in fact risks anytime you engage the public. However, these killings are not about lax security or poor precautions. These killings are about a fractured and damaged child of God who lashed out in the most horrible sort of way. So troubled was this man, that he was compelled to take his own life after contemplating what he had done. The world is an inherently dangerous and violent place, even for those of us that invoke the Prince of Peace.

I have already heard too many people jumping to a "fear response" and suggesting radical "improvements" like metal detectors and security cameras and double-door trap entrances. At our Diocesan Convention which was in process as the details of this tragedy developed, our Bishop, Rt. Rev. Eugene Sutton vigorously stated, "We will not preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ from behind bullet proof plexiglass." There are definitely common-sense things we, as church communities, can do; working in pairs, lights, dealing with known persons. Unfortunately, sometimes needlessly horrible things can happen.

As Christians, and people of faith, I hope our first reactions continue to be prayer and compassion. I hope our church communities will carefully balance access and security so we are able to effectively minister to the needs of the most desperate in our broken world, remembering the parable of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46.

Making our churches into places that are free from violence and safe for everyone is incredibly important. But feeling safe and being safe aren't necessarily the same thing.

I worry that if we make decisions about security based on whether or not someone's "obnoxious," or homeless, we're not going to look clearly enough at what the actual threats might be, or take the right steps to prevent violence.

I just found this analysis http://www.carlchinn.com/Church_Security_Concepts.html
of deadly violence in places of worship over the last few years: it's done by someone who works in church security, and I have no idea how complete or accurate it is. But he reports that the three main triggers of deadly violence in places of worship are domestic violence, personal arguments and robbery. The statistics show no more deadly violence triggered by mental illness than by religious bias -- and nearly 25% of the killings were done by a current or former member or employee of the place of worship.

I count as priceless the extensive training I've received in violence de-escalation, using my voice to prevent or end an assault, and in disarming an armed assailant.

I've taught it to many a survivor of crime and/or abuse, and would love to be able to teach clergy, lay leaders, and others who work with potentially volatile populations.

I wish every diocese offered training in this at least once a year. I also wish that all social workers -- especially those who do home visits -- had such training. Maybe I should start offering workshops.

The 2009 article in Lawofficer magazine about church security raised a good point, which is that synagogues have long maintained a much higher security posture than most churches. And I am mindful that, when I was a kid, many churches stayed open around the clock--somthing unthinkable today.

See: http://www.lawofficer.com/article/news/experts-churches-big-and-small

Eric Bonetti

Eric,

I found your comments of May 7, 2012 1:28 PM to be excellent. May I have your permission to reprint them in our upcoming church newsletter?

Thank you,
Sheila Johnson
Parish Administrator
St. John's Episcopal Church, Mt. Washington
Baltimore, MD

Hi Sheila. Sure--you or anyone who wishes to do so is welcome to use this information.

Peace,
Eric Bonetti