Chaplains and Policing
Prior to Covid-19 and all the restrictions that have come with it, I would regularly head out for a ride along in the western part of downtown Toronto. I am a Toronto Police Service chaplain and over the past 18 years I have volunteered at three different times, with the present one starting in 2016. I wear a uniform but no weapons. I do however go to all kinds of calls riding with a different sergeant each time I go out on the road. In Toronto all divisions have their own chaplain. The province of Ontario has over 100 police chaplains and our backgrounds and religious affiliations are varied and thus we call it multi-faith by definition. We have just created the Police Chaplains Association of Ontario where our hope is to formalize the training for all police chaplains. We are doing this with the support of the Canadian Police Chaplain Association which we are all part of. Another purpose for the PCAO is to better define our role to the Police Chief's of Ontario. The hope being th...