| Proverbs 22:3 |
| "... foresee danger and plan ahead..." |
| 02/16/09 - Church security, the economy and some dangerous trends |
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No one can underestimate the effect the economy has had on everyone, especially the Christian community. As Christians, we have satisfaction that we live for a world of faith instead of a world of flesh, however we cannot disregard what is happening all around us. As experts in public safety, security and emergency management, we are seeing some trends that are affecting many Christian organizations and the world of believers here in the U.S. Here are three unsettling trends we are watching. First, the sheer number of incidents against Christian churches, schools and ministries are shocking. Since the beginning of the year, the Christian Security Network has tracked over 100 criminal incidents in over 25 states against churches. There is no area of the country left untouched – east, west, north, south, even across the ocean with our brothers and sisters in Hawaii and way up in Alaska. We are seeing churches as targets for burglaries, robbery, vandalism, arson, and unfortunately, violence. And these are just the incidents we are made aware of – there are probably many more and there are no signs of these incidents slowing down. The second disturbing trend is the cutbacks and lay-offs of police officers across the country. Again, like crime increasing, there doesn’t seem to be an area that police have not been cut back: Georgia, Michigan, California, Ohio, Florida, Massachusetts...the list goes on and on. It used to be that being a police officer was one of the most secure jobs around; when I was a young police officer you never, ever heard of police losing their jobs because of fiscal problems – but these are different times and no one is exempt. And the third trend that just tops the other two is government agencies that are letting convicted criminals out of jails and prisons early to ease crowding and save money. In California alone there could be as many as 57,000 prisoners let out of jail early according to a Reuters news report this past week. Unfortunately, the rate in which criminals go out and commit crimes again after being released is pretty high. According to FBI statistics an estimated 67.5% of felons released were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within 3 years, 46.9% were reconvicted, and 25.4% resentenced to prison for a new crime. Sex offenders were about four times more likely than non-sex offenders to be arrested for another sex crime after their discharge from prison All of these trends do not speak well for the outlook of public safety and for churches, which are seen as “soft targets”, should be particularly disturbing. It is obvious that the police cannot do the job alone; their numbers are decreasing and they are being stretched further than they have ever been. In 2007 police officers killed in the line of duty rose to a recent high of 181 deaths; in 2008 it was 140...as of this writing there have been 11 killed in the U.S. All of us have an obligation to combat crime and the best way to do that is to lessen the opportunities that criminals have; this means taking precautions and measures to stop an incident before it ever occurs. Study after study has shown that “target hardening” of your house, business or church reduces the likelihood of becoming a victim. It is time to take individual responsibility; together we can make a difference. Are you ready….we can help! In Christ, Jeff Hawkins Executive Director |
