We Are Called To Love Our Neighbor, How Does This Play Out?

If I could go back one year from now I think I would have trouble recognizing myself. Its not that I have changed all that much, but on a few issues I have made a complete turn around. I can now identify God at work making me ready for a complete infilling of His love.

I worked as a police officer for almost 8 years in two separate cities in Ohio. My views were a little different from some of the officers, but for the most part I was a cop’s cop. Like most police officers I figured that the current law enforcement system was working very well. I went home after an eight hour shift and slept fine. I figured that an offender had forfeited some of his/her rights when they committed an act that society had deemed wrong. I didn’t know of an alternative to the criminal justice system and to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t looking for one.

After several years I started attending The Salvation Army in the city where I worked. I had attended this church before starting my career, and something brought me back. I see now that it was probably me trying to pay penitence for what I was doing on the streets during my shift at the police department. I began to get involved working with the homeless and needy. The thing I instantly realized was that I was seeing the same people at the church getting assistance as I did at work. These men and women could not feed their families; they couldn’t find a job, or a place to live. This really caused me to start thinking.

I realized that there had to be something more to what I did. I had taken an oath as a police officer to protect all the citizens of my city. Was I upholding this? Was I really protecting these men and women? These people were not getting better, they were not being rehabilitated. I would arrest someone, they would go to jail for a few nights, and then they would be back out. It wouldn’t be long before they re-offended and the process would begin again.

I spent many nights trying to figure out what I could do. A friend of mine told me about a new justice system, Restorative Justice. I read about it and thought it looked like something I would be interested in learning more about. A few months later I had quit my job, and I was on my way to Harrisonburg, VA. To begin classes. I was not instant convert to Restorative Justice. It took some time to clean out eight years of indoctrination. It has been almost 2 years now and I still have my questions. I am sure I always will.

I have begun plans for an offender re-entry program at The Salvation Army in Harrisonburg, VA. I have begun using some of my life skill curriculum ideas with the clients from our homeless shelter. While these men and women are not attempting to reenter society from prison, they are still trying to reenter it. We have also begun to work on employment and apartment banks. These banks would be filled with offender friendly employers and land lords. When a man or a woman begins looking for a place to stay and work, we can plug them into our bank. The idea of re-entry is not new within The Salvation Army and I believe that this is why it is the perfect launching pad for this program. The founder of The Salvation Army William Booth said in a speech over 100 years ago that he would fight to keep these men and women from re-offending. I plan to continue on with that fight as I try to keep these men and women from going back to jail over and over again. God’s love requires this of me.