Pray for the Police is the central message of a new step by step guide to help faith communities engage with the service in its many guises.
The national document has been produced by Faith and Police Together - an initiative backed by the National Police Chief’s Council and the College of Policing.
Paul Netherton, Deputy Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall is the strategic lead on the project and introduces the document, which is aimed at building links between faith communities and local police services.
“We believe faith communities have an important role to play in bringing about community transformation and cohesion,” Mr Netherton said.
“We believe that when the police and faith communities work together to tackle some of the issues the police are facing, we will see lives and communities being transformed.
“This is a great initiative. It can lead to transformational change in some of the most challenging social issues across the country," he said.
Examples of suggested prayers in A Faith Communities Guide to Engaging with the Police include:
Pray for front line officers responding to emergency calls and other serious incidents. Pray for compassion, for courage, also for the safety and protection of officers as they confront wrongdoing and injustice and seek to help those in real need.
• Pray for your local Neighbourhood Officers as they work to ‘problem solve’ ongoing community issues. Invite your local neighbourhood officers to your place of worship hear about their job first hand, get to know them and actively support them in prayer as they tackle community challenges.
• Pray for those supporting the most vulnerable - for Family Liaison Officers supporting those traumatised by serious crime, for officers supporting victims of abuse, for officers supporting those who may be suicidal or feeling lonely and isolated or in poor mental health.
• Pray against knife and gun crime - in your community, pray into emerging crime trends, that the police will respond quickly and effectively - check with your local officers about these priorities.
• Pray for safety on your roads - for accident hotspots, some locations often see repeated serious accidents. Pray for protection and safety at these locations - your local officers can provide more information on where to target your prayers.
• Pray for support and healing - for those officers who have experienced traumatic situations in their work and struggle to deal with them. Pray that there would be spiritual protection over them as they face some of the darkest aspects of human nature. Ask God to give them the qualities they need to be able to do their job and not to become hardened and cynical. Pray that they would find hope and peace in God.
• Pray for vulnerable locations/public places – for those locations particularly affected by persistent problems in your community, such as drug dealing, prostitution, criminal damage and antisocial behaviour. Possibly do targeted prayer initiatives such as a prayer walks or a focused prayer event.
To download a PDF of the document go to https://bit.ly/2QDjMDa