So today was the first day for the 17th class of the Carmel Citizen’s Police Academy. I had heard of the academy through some friends and the newspaper, but I never made the time to go.
The whole purpose behind the program is a good one, it opens up communications between the police department and the citizens. It also give the citizens a view of law enforcement.
The program lasts 11 weeks and each week I will try to give some highlights. This week was an introduction. We met the police chief, some of the majors, the chaplain, and others.
Carmel has been growing and has grown from a police department of four officers to over 100 today. It’s even amazing how they’re outgrowing their headquarters. I’m beginning to think that we shouldn’t build one of the Keystone roundabouts and just build a new police headquarters.
Well friends, that was week one of the Citizen’s Police Academy. I wish I could show you more, but I didn’t take so many pictures this week. Stay tuned for more!
Those of you who know me know of my desire to be a road chaplain for a police department. Yet for many of you, I haven’t explained why I have a passion for it. For me, I feel called to this position for many reasons.
One of the toughest parts of the job, as any officer will tell you, is doing death notifications. To have someone arrive at your doorstep and tell you that your loved one is dead is a bit of news that nobody wants to hear. The care that the chaplain extends to that family differs depending on the chaplain. Some might make the notification and leave. Others may stay and calm the family while calling a family friend or pastor to take care of them.
My hope is that I can be a chaplain who helps restore shalom. One definition for shalom is, “peace. Nothing missing, nothing broken, wellbeing, and complete.” For a family whose life has been torn apart by tragedy, I would hope that I can do what I can to help them get the resources they need to deal with the grief they are experiencing. And to an extent, that trajedy will always be a part of them… shaping who they are. The difference has to be the resources available to help put that person in a direction that will bring them to restoration.
If I were to have a mission statement for my chaplaincy, it would be this quote by Jonathan Edwards:
“The strength of a good soldier of Jesus Christ appears in nothing more than in steadfastly maintaining the holy calm, meekness, sweetness and benevolence of his mind, amidst all the storms, injuries, strange behavior and surprising acts and events of this evil and unreasonable world.”
Or to look at scripture it says this, “the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:16)
In essence, hopefully I can be a light in their darkest hour or I can surround them with people who will help them through the trouble times.
One of my favorite music videos is by Simple Plan. The song is “Untitled” and as you watch it, you will see the depth and emotion that goes on when a family experiences something tragic. Their world is shaken dramatically. So as you watch this video, remember that amidst all that darkness, chaplains can be a light.
Untitled
Simple Plan
I open my eyes
I try to see but I’m blinded by the white light
I can’t remember how
I can’t remember why
I’m lyin’ here tonight
And I can’t stand the pain
And I can’t make it go away
No I can’t stand the pain
Chorus:
How could this happen to me?
I’ve made my mistakes
got nowhere to run
the night goes on
as I’m fadin’ away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
Everybody’s screamin’
I try to make a sound but no one hears me
I’m slippin’ off the edge
I’m hangin’ by a thread
I wanna start this over again
So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered
And I can’t explain what happened
And I can’t erase the things that I’ve done
No I can’t
How could this happen to me?
I’ve made my mistakes
got nowhere to run
the night goes on
As I’m fadin’ away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
I’ve made my mistakes
got nowhere to run
the night goes on
as I’m fading away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
On Thursday, most of the staff here at Grace headed down to the Phoenix Apartments. Phoenix (formerly known as The Meadows) is notorious in Indianapolis as an area that is worn down and crime-ridden. The crime has gotten so bad that the Prosecutor’s Office put a trailer on site as a “Neighborhood Resource Center” and officers are assigned to keep an eye on this neighborhood. Not only that, but the apartments are run down from years of neglect. Don’t believe me? Check out this series that The Indianapolis Star did on the Phoenix Apartments.
In last month’s staff meeting we had an awesome guest, Byron Alston from Save the Youth. The purpose of Save the Youth “is to provide programs to enhance, enrich and motivate the community to engage in constructive and not destructive activities.” Several months ago, three year-old Tajanay Bailey died of neglect. When Byron heard about this, he had to check out the Phoenix Apartments and was disgusted by the conditions people were living in.
That is what brought us here today. According to Byron, the owner has been working to fix up the apartments after seeing the condition they were in… although I cannot confirm this since I haven’t been inside any of the units. But the purpose for today was to build a playground for the kids. Through grants and partnerships with Home Depot and KaBoom, we were able to put together a playground and park area for the kids.
The Indianapolis Star did a short story on it and at the end of each story, they leave the opportunity for people to leave comments. The comments started out good, “Positive news. Thanks Star for printing it.” “I agree. a good story. darn who would have thought you would find one here.”
But the more people had a chance to comment on it, the more negative it got, “Why in the world would they put a $57,000 playground in those apartments. Yes, it was a good gesture but not a very smart one. They should have saved that money and put it toward fixing those apartments up instead; but hey what do I know…” “This is a great hope but sadly I don’t think they will. The fact is it is free to them and they will use it, tear it up and demand a new playground.”
Wow, I’m amazed at people’s perceptions! The people who could benefit most from a playground, but are unable to afford such a thing aren’t worth it? Everyone knows that the Phoenix Apartments have a bad reputation, but nobody wants to do anything about it! That is certainly what it sounds like when reading some of these comments.
The truth is that these people do deserve a playground. How do we expect children to have childhoods if we don’t give them a place to play? For some of these kids, that playground may be one of the few things they have.
I was glad to go down there and help out… even though my part was small, it contributed to something bigger. And I hope that these kids can have nice place to play. And maybe, just maybe these apartments may start to turn around. The video below is of Mayor Greg Ballard addressing the volunteers:
On the way home I found a guy who worked at Rally’s who was having a little too much fun.
There’s a fuss going on in Fishers about “unfair treatment” of Fishers High School Principal Scott Syverson. Here’s a quote from the story in The Indianapolis Star:
“A Fishers police officer’s decision to take an intoxicated high school principal home instead of arresting him for drunken driving was the wrong one, Fishers Police Chief George Kehl said Thursday.
“It doesn’t make us look very good,” said Kehl. He said an officer’s discretion is a valuable tool but admitted he could not justify its use in the case involving Fishers High School Principal Scott Syverson.
Syverson, who was stopped shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday while driving home from a Christmas party hosted by Hamilton Southeastern Schools Superintendent Concetta Raimondi, should have been arrested and taken to jail, Kehl said.
Instead, the officer drove Syverson home.”
Now I have two angles on this story, I’m interested in law enforcement and I’ve had the privilege of knowing Mr. Syverson from when he worked at North Central. So here’s the deal, people are mad because the cop gave him a break. I don’t have access to the police database, but I would say that if this was a first time offense, the officer might have been giving Syverson a break by giving him a ride home. Is it unfair treatment? Possibly. Could it have been an act of grace? Possibly.
The officer did his job, which is to serve and protect. The fact is that he removed a drunk driver from the streets and prevented a possible accident. I think people are mad because they felt he should’ve been punished for DUI and I can also respect that opinion. I know that I’ve gotten pulled over for speeding and the officers have shown me grace, even when I could’ve been jailed for wreckless driving. Everybody deserves a break. That doesn’t excuse Syverson’s actions, but I think he’ll be more careful from now on, knowing that his reputation is at stake.
This could be Syverson’s one “get out of jail free card,” let’s hope he’s learned his lesson and doesn’t do it again. But I also think it’s unfair to criticize an officer who, by departmental policy, was allowed some discretion in this case. My question is directed at the school system’s superintendent, Concetta Raimondi. Syverson left Raimondi’s party drunk, as the host of this party, wouldn’t it have been nice of her to call this man a cab? Seems like there’s a round of blame to go around.
So I was driving home after dropping of Noah after class when I came to the roundabout at 96th Street and Westfield Blvd. Now, this thing has been in place for well over a year now and I’d like to think that people would have learned how to navigate it by now. But no, there have been at least three accidents I know of at the intersection in the past year and at least one of those ended in the death of two people (they crashed into the concrete fountain in the middle).
All I’ve gotta say is that I love roundabouts, it almost makes it worth having Brainard as mayor of Carmel. I’m still trying to figure out how to pull off this stunt (see video below) in my Geo Prizm, but I’m afraid Carmel PD may not like it.
But seriously, if you don’t know how to navigate through a roundabout, you really should learn. Fortunately, the lovely people at Carmel PD have a link to a “roundabout demonstration.” Take notes people, roundabouts are supposed to be a GOOD THING. Sure beats having to wait at a traffic light.
So today was the first day for the 17th class of the Carmel Citizen’s Police Academy. I had heard of the academy through some friends and the newspaper, but I never made the time to go.
So I was driving home after dropping of Noah after class when I came to the roundabout at 96th Street and Westfield Blvd. Now, this thing has been in place for well over a year now and I’d like to think that people would have learned how to navigate it by now. But no, there have been at least three accidents I know of at the intersection in the past year and at least one of those ended in the death of two people (they crashed into the concrete fountain in the middle).