May 02--The Butte police department is starting a chaplain program to give officers spiritual support if they want it.
Sheriff John Walsh said four people have volunteered to participate as chaplains.
Martin Martin will head the program, with Mark Liesch, Brian Miller and Barb Tymofichuk as non-denominational chaplains. Martin and Liesch are with the Evangelical Free Church, Miller is with Christ Church Anglican and Tymofichuk is a member of the First Baptist Church, all of Butte.
Walsh said past chaplains programs haven't worked out.
"I hope (this program) is successful, because there's always a need for officers to have someone to talk with," Walsh said.
The appointed chaplains will not have law enforcement authority, the sheriff said. They are not paid, but the department purchased for them uniform shirts emblazoned with "chaplain."
Martin said he approached the sheriff with the idea after attending a recent seminar where the chaplain for the Gallatin County Sheriff's Department spoke. It was there that he also met the chaplain for Beaverhead County.
"God put the notion in my head and I just built on it," Martin told The Montana Standard Tuesday.
Always a strong supporter of the local police, Martin said he wanted to help in some way. Martin believes the chaplain program will be especially useful in crisis situations like the March 2009 plane crash that killed 14 people in Butte.
The sheriff added that the chaplains can assist officers when police have to notify family about a death.
"This can be very stressful to the officers and everyone involved and it can be comforting to the families to have a person of faith there at that time," Walsh said.
-- Reporter John Grant Emeigh may be reached via email at [email protected] or phone at 496-5511. Follow him at Twitter.com/@johnemeigh.
Copyright 2012 - The Montana Standard, Butte
