Waging Peace on Inglewood Streets : Law Enforcement: Ministers respond to a plea from the police. Armed with Bibles, the clergymen help to instill community good will.

By ALISA SAMUELS

Dec. 28, 1989 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The heavyset man in the front passenger seat of police car No. 0116 hits the hazardous streets of Inglewood once a month. On every tour of duty, he packs two standard weapons: “The Bible Promise Book” and “The Witnessing Book.”

“I call these my weapons . . . my armaments,” said the Rev. D.D. Alexander, one of seven volunteer ministers in the Inglewood Police Department’s 2-year-old chaplaincy program, which gives officers religious support in dealing with the public.

Alexander, a minister at Holy Tabernacle of God Baptist Church in Inglewood, notes that the program “helps bridge the gap between the community and the Police Department.”

Inglewood’s chaplains say that gap exists because each side holds misconceptions about the other.

“People see the police as a natural enemy. . . . Generally the police don’t touch lives of people except when (they) have broken the law,” explained Chaplain Xavier Carter, himself a former policeman.

Since joining the program, the chaplains have consoled bereaved families, victims of violent crimes, and physically and emotionally abused spouses. As part of their work, they periodically accompany police officers on ride-alongs, seeing firsthand what the officers encounter daily and providing counseling and assistance where appropriate.

Clerical Collar

“Ride-alongs are interesting because you don’t know what’s going to happen from one day to the next,” said Alexander, a husky but soft-spoken man.

On a recent Friday, Alexander, wearing his clerical collar and the department’s official gray chaplain’s jacket, sat behind a secured 12-gauge shotgun as his partner for the night, Officer Ramona V. Reed, drove their black-and-white around Inglewood.

“It’s kind of quiet now,” Alexander said, adding that 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. are the action hours in Inglewood, a city that had 50 homicides as of Dec. 20. Police say most of the killings result from drug and gang activity.

About 6 p.m., Alexander and Reed responded to a family disturbance on Hillsdale Street where a man reportedly hit his girlfriend because she left their baby unattended. The man had fled.

Alexander talked with the woman and listened as she described the attack. When he left, he handed her his business card.

“If you need me, you can give me a call,” he said. “I mean that.”

The chaplaincy program officially began in October, 1987, when ministers responded to the department’s call for religious support, said Reuben Taylor, crime prevention specialist and coordinator of the program.

Sixty-seven ministers attended the first meeting but only nine remained, Taylor said. Since then, two chaplains have moved out of state.

The chaplains received 40 hours of instruction in police-related work, including courses on the Penal Code and police procedures, and logged 10 hours on ride-alongs before they received a chaplaincy certificate.

Although their program was approved by Police Chief Ray L. Johnson, the chaplains say they initially encountered resistance from rank-and-file officers.

“We were treated like outsiders,” the Rev. Anthony Sanders recalled.

But once the officers realized the chaplains were there to help them and not “to beat up on them verbally with a Bible,” that attitude changed, said Carter, who was a Chicago police officer for 4 1/2 years.

Taylor, who calls the chaplains “our ambassadors of good will,” noted: “It takes a while to gain the trust of police officers.”

The chaplains are always on call for emergencies, but they determine how much time they can spare for other activities, including ride-alongs, counseling victims, writing death notices and helping families arrange funerals.

“I feel there is a reward in it, any time you can help and be of service,” said the Rev. Victoria Thrash, whose son, Robert, is also a minister and a chaplain in the program.

A chaplain’s presence can help defuse a hostile situation, Officer Reed said.

“Say you go to a family fight and you have a chaplain there,” Reed said. “Sometimes the hostile party involved will look at him differently. They look at us like we didn’t have the right to come in and invade his home. . . . They don’t question (the chaplain’s) presence.”

Taylor said the chaplains must be given the officer’s approval before approaching and counseling a victim. During ride-alongs, the unarmed chaplains stay out of the officer’s way in case the officer must react quickly. And the officers protect the ministers from life-threatening situations, Taylor said.

The Rev. Albert Jones, 66, said the chaplains realize the dangers involved, and it is possible to feel “pretty up-tight . . . knowing some people take joy in shooting at police.”

When Sanders’ partner was involved in a drug raid earlier this year, the chaplain was told to stay near the car and out of the way.

Although he remained in the car, Sanders recalls being frightened. There were men with guns, and the situation was confusing because many of the police officers were wearing street clothes.

“I did not know who were the officers or who were the criminals,” Sanders said.

Most of the chaplains agree, however, that they are not overwhelmed by fear and have not encountered life-threatening situations while on the street.

Carter said his experience as a police officer helps him feel comfortable on the streets. “I’m not afraid,” he said.

But the potential for danger and the press of other responsibilities have caused the Rev. Robert Thrash to reduce his number of rides. Thrash said he would feel more comfortable if chaplains were allowed to wear a bulletproof vest and carry a handgun for protection.

Taylor said concerns of some of the ministers about safety are legitimate, but he said they would not be authorized to carry a handgun or wear a bulletproof vest because they are not sworn officers.

If an officer is shot while driving with a passenger, the chaplains could call for backup and fire a weapon if they had to, Taylor said. In addition to their training at the Inglewood station, they can learn how to fire small handguns at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Advanced Chaplain School.

Between 60 and 80 chaplains from Southern California gather there once a month to learn a variety of subjects, from police driving to hostage intervention, said LAPD Traffic Officer Ron Moen, who is also a chaplain and has taught a cardiopulmonary resuscitation class there.

The Inglewood Police Department is not the only South Bay law- enforcement agency with a corps of chaplains. Neighboring El Segundo, Redondo Beach, Torrance and Hawthorne also have chaplaincy programs.

“We think it’s a neat little program,” Hawthorne Sgt. Roy McNally said. “We have somebody we can call . . . on an emergency basis.”

Working on the streets can sometimes be a visceral experience for the chaplains.

Carter said: “I cry by myself (and) I cry with my clients, too.”

He said the emotional scars he developed as a battered child enable him to “establish a real kinship” with his usual clients--battered spouses.

“I’ve had the licks like they have,” said Carter, a marriage and family counselor at Jenesse Domestic Violence Center in Los Angeles.

Frequently, the chaplains don’t have to go far to find someone who needs counseling.

Taylor said many officers, who are often “stressed out” by their daily contacts with victims and criminals, need someone to talk to.

When the lawmen see the chaplains, Alexander said, they feel relief and think: “ ‘OK, the man upstairs does care. He sent these guys.’ ”

The relationships among police officers and chaplains were strengthened in March, 1988, when Inglewood undercover Sgt. George Aguilar was shot to death while chasing a robbery suspect. Aguilar was the first officer killed in the department’s 80-year history, and his death rocked the department.

Carter said the chaplains helped the officers sort out their feelings and assured them there was nothing they could have done to prevent their fellow officer’s death.

“Life and death is not something man can call on his own,” Carter recalls telling the officers.

Father Paul Montoya, one of the department’s chaplains, comforted Aguilar’s family and celebrated the officer’s funeral Mass. The funeral was held at St. John Chrysostom Catholic Church, where Montoya is parish administrator, because it was large enough to accommodate the crowd of mourners.

Among those who attended the Mass were officers from Inglewood and other police departments as well as city and county officials. All seven of Inglewood’s chaplains were present, sitting in a special section, Carter said.

“That entire department went to pieces,” Carter said. “The police officers were naturally time bombs walking around. It’s like their own flesh and blood was gone.”

Chief Johnson agreed that Aguilar’s death had a great impact on the department and that the chaplains were able to help officers by listening to them and acting as emotional sounding boards.

Said Johnson: “They are more than worth their weight in gold.”