Crime at Detroit churches prompts pastors to step up security

Detroit — Weeks after thieves stole $15,000 worth of audio equipment from his church in northeast Detroit, Pastor Roderick Dallas is still incensed.

Discussing the Feb. 5 theft at True Gospel Tabernacle and break-ins at other Detroit churches, Dallas said it’s not the loss of property that upsets him so much.

“It’s a blatant disrespect for the House of God,” said Dallas, whose church is on Ryan Road near Eight Mile. “This is a very unchurched (and) unspiritualed generation.”

Since the break-in, the church has taken additional security measures to protect its building and members.

The church has put up glass blocks on some windows, secondary locks on doors and installed bullet-proof glass where the thieves entered.

The church also put in video surveillance cameras and added security officers.

Thefts, muggings and even shootings at Detroit churches have led pastors to beef up security and, in some cases, arm themselves.

“Members are being assaulted coming and going,” said the Rev. Oscar King III, pastor of Northwest Unity Church on the city’s west side. “It’s a continuing problem. There’s less and less respect for the House of God. (Criminals) are walking into church like they are walking into a gas station.”

King is immediate past president of the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity and moderator of the Metropolitan Baptist District Association.

He said the council had met several times with Detroit police officials to discuss security concerns. Police have stepped up patrols when they can.

Detroit Police say they don’t separately keep track of crime at churches. While it’s difficult to quantify a trend, ministers say they’re committed to making congregants and other visitors feel safe.

The Rev. V. Lonnie Peek, co-pastor of Greater Christ Missionary Baptist Church on Detroit’s east side, said his congregation has hired security guards and taken other steps to head off trouble.

“When you have services, you have to be diligent,” Peek said.

“Whenever we have thought something was not quite right, we have people (who are watchful).” Such measures can reassure worshippers.

Diane Reeder, a pianist and a choir director at Plymouth United Church of Christ on Warren Avenue near Interstate 75, said her church’s security team gives her peace of mind.

“I definitely feel safe,” said Reeder. “I appreciate that.”

Still, King said some worshippers are avoiding churches in high-crime areas.

“People now make their decision about where they want to worship based on where the church is located,” he said.

In some cases, churches are moving night services and prayer meetings to daytime because some members are afraid to attend after sundown.

“We have elderly people tell us, ‘I don’t come out after dark. I can’t come to Bible study,'” King said.

As a Wayne County Sheriff’s chaplain, King may carry a gun but said he chooses not to arm himself.

Peek has a concealed-carry permit. He said he travels around the city for meetings and feels safer carrying a weapon, especially when alone.

“I’m out and about so I carry it for safety,” he said.

Local firearms expert Rick Ecktor said he has held several gun safety classes with ministers and also held group sessions for church members who want to receive a concealed weapons permit.

Demand for training from the city’s religious leaders has risen as more criminals target churches, he said.

“It seems as though it’s becoming an increasing problem,” Ecktor said. “A church would be a perfect place to conduct a crime. Criminals know with regularity that people won’t be armed.”

Church security expert Chuck Chadwick said he plans to conduct a security-training conference for local churches in June at Northridge Church in Plymouth. Chadwick said he expects at least 200 people to attend the program, which will train church security officers on state gun laws and responding to emergencies.

“It’s a sign of our times,” said Chadwick, president of the Christian Security Institute and president of the National Organization of Church Security and Safety Management. “It’s really happening at churches that have a staff of less than four people. The majority of the cases are out of small churches.”

Nationally, from January 1999 to December 2012, there were 638 major criminal incidents, including shootings and assaults, at the nation’s houses of worship, according to church security expert Carl Chinn, author of the book “Evil Invades Sanctuary.”

Last May, an 84-year-old church security officer, Joseph Lewis Jr., was shot and killed guarding the Victory Way Assembly Church of God in Christ on Detroit’s west side. Alandre Boone, 18, and Anthony Williams, 15, were convicted and sentenced to prison for the slaying.

Chinn said criminals see churches and other houses of worship as soft targets.

“They are going to go where they don’t think they are going to be counter-attacked,” Chinn said in a phone interview from his Colorado home.

Churches have to take the safety of their sanctuaries and members seriously and put security measures in place, added Chinn, who responded to a hostage standoff at Focus on the Family offices in Colorado Springs in 1996.

“It takes more than prayer,” Chinn said.

From Texas, the Rev. James McAbee, whose Facebook page promotes him as “the Pistol Packing Pastor,” said the clergy must take back their churches from criminals by being armed and prepared to use force if necessary.

“Unfortunately this ain’t the Little House on the Prairie,” McAbee said. “Churches have become targets like schools.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130312/METRO01/303120351#ixzz2NNmX2LyI