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Safety Conference for Places of Worship in Chesterfield County.

Liberty-or-Death

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From the Chesterfield County Police Facebook page:

Please HELP us by sharing this information with the leaders of YOUR place of worship located in Chesterfield County. We would love to see ALL places of worship represented at our Safety Conference in August.
For more information, contact our Crime Prevention Unit at 804-318-8699.uploadfromtaptalk1438403925795.jpg
 

skidmark

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The Church of JMB(PBOHN) intends to register. I wonder if any of the purdy followers will want to go. However, since they have decided to hold the meeting at a school* I am beginning to smell shenanigans afoot.

stay safe.

* - http://www.edline.net/pages/ctchull
 

Liberty-or-Death

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Having learned that the location is a school, I'm contemplating carrying an empty holster to the conference.
 

Liberty-or-Death

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So my county is starting a program to partnership with places of worship that's similar to neighborhood watch, and they're calling is Worship Watch. They launched it today at the Safety Conference about which I posted in the OP.

At a QA time after the first session, attendants immediately asked about carry in church. The speaker gave an unclear statement that basically implied that a church can make its own rules, and if a church allows it, CHP holders can carry, but you have to have a permit.

I took him to task on that during our lunch intermission and he remained adamant that he was correct. Even after showing him the code, he wasn't grasping what I was saying, which was the code says nothing about concealing or a requirement for a permit. He said he'd get back to me, and he did before the next session started.

He couldn't find anything in the code, but what he referenced was the AG opinion on church carry (at least they were aware of it) which does suggest CC. Anyway, I just reiterated my recommendation that they not say a CHP is required, and they stated they would reiterate the law. And they did just that, gave out the code reference 18.2-283 at the afternoon session.
 

Liberty-or-Death

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I'll also add that they did discourage one attendee who asked about posting gun-buster signs at their worship house. At first they encouraged the placement of signs, then back-peddled pointing to the Aurora shooter's decision making process as a reason to not advertise a GFZ.
 

Grapeshot

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I'll also add that they did discourage one attendee who asked about posting gun-buster signs at their worship house. At first they encouraged the placement of signs, then back-peddled pointing to the Aurora shooter's decision making process as a reason to not advertise a GFZ.
Sounds like they were winging it, ill prepared.

Why does that not surprise me?
 

Liberty-or-Death

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When I asked one of the speakers why the conference speakers didn't speak more to the question of carry in church, noting that there are more questions than answers about it (one attendee called it the elephant in the room), he said the CCPD couldn't do more than speak to what the law says in this public forum. He added that, in a more private setting, like during a security assessment for a place of worship, they'd be more free to answer questions.

It seemed to me that liability was less, and control of information was more, their cause for concern here. I estimate there were at least 200 shepherds in attendance, yet they were treated in this regard like sheep.
 

sidestreet

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I was requested by my pastor and several other church members…,

to attend a meeting given by the Richmond Fire and Police departments, and a Security professional some months ago concerning safety in places of worship in response to an incident that occurred shortly before. There was food there, so that made a large number of the participants quite happy. It was a three hour long program, the first two hours consisting of a panel of Fire and Police department brass expounding on their resume`s and patting themselves on the back, followed by pretty much telling the guest what they were going to do in the case of an active shooter/emergency. They never really offered any advice on how a place of worship might be proactive in anticipating or handling such an emergency, which I suspect by the few questions that followed, was the main reason many guest were in attendance (except maybe the free food).

The Security professional gave an excellent lecture and offered lots of good information and material on the matter of increasing safety and awareness in places of worship.

By contrast, about the only material the police offered was a pen and a "How did we do?" questionnaire.

I told them it would be nice they could continue to offer the venue (and the food of course), do away with the first two hours and the "experts", keep the Security professional, and get lost until somebody calls for them to come and clean up.

So, to recap, it was pretty much what I figured (and told my pastor) it would be, and that I would not be going to any more of those "seminars".

sidestreet

Jeremiah 29: 11-13

we are not equal, we will never be equal, but we must be relentless.
 
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