Sunday, April 18, 1999
Cops for Christ share burden
Officers meet for fellowship
BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SPRINGDALE — She's an undercover cop, pretending at times to be something she's not. When her work is finally done and a case is wrapped up, she may put someone in handcuffs; and the humility of the circumstance gives her pause.
“I may play criminal with them,” she says. “So I'm stepping out of character and I'm connecting with people whom I would never deal with. I wrestle with becoming a different person in order to do the job.”
The officer — who asked not to be named because she works undercover — talked a little about that one night recently, among other like-minded Christian police officers who meet once a month at the Vineyard Community Church.
“Why are you putting me in this position?” she says she once asked God when she had to arrest a minister. “I wrestle with seeing them get lock ed up, the handcuffs. You're going home and they're not.”
Cops For Christ is where she can come and talk about things like that.
"I count on people'
The Cincinnati chapter of Cops For Christ was started 10 years ago by a UC police officer, Lt. Mike Flynn. Monthly meetings were held at his house, growing slowly at first, mostly by word of mouth. A few years ago, the meetings were moved to the Vineyard.
Those who belong — they number about 20 from eight or nine departments around the Tristate — do it for the fellowship, to spread good news and to let other officers know there is a place they can come to talk about what may trouble them as Christian police officers.
“There are other officers out there who are willing to reach out and help other officers,” says Lt. Flynn.
Sgt. Gary Lee, a Cincinnati vice officer, president of the local chapter and one whose job often involves encounters with the weaknesses in the human spirit, says he has been asked, “"How do you do what you do every day?'
“I count on people, Christian brothers and sisters, who truly understand the burdens each one of us bears individually,” he told his colleagues at a recent meeting.
Sharing the stress
It's a high-stress job, and the burnout rate is alarming, police officers say. “You really come up against the worst of the worst,” says Lt. Flynn. “Having that camaraderie as Christian law enforcement officers, standing on the same foundation in our beliefs, really gives us strength.”
The local chapter is part of Cops For Christ International, founded in 1974. Locally, the group has provided security for events, has done fingerprinting projects for children and conducts a weekly crime prevention and safety tip program on WAKW radio, 93.3 FM.
But the group's heart and soul are its monthly meetings. Springfield Township Sgt. Scott Middendorf says police officers can be suspicious by nature; it's a byproduct of their job.
“This gives you the opportunity to say that you're having trouble being a Christian at times with your job,” says Sgt. Middendorf. “There are daily conflicts that I come across that test my faith. But it's my job — how do you handle that? There's others here that can relate to that.”
Mount Healthy Police Officer Mike Neal says the camaraderie springs from shared experience and beliefs:
“It's a relief for me personally. I can feel like, with all the trials and tribulations I go through on the street, that's a place of refuge, you might say.”
Almost every day, says Sgt. Lee, they see the victims, the broken and the assaulted.
“I pray they see in us the hope,” he told his fellow officers.
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