By Bob Walsh
The City of Stockton, CA. has some issues. It is a crime-ridden and gang-infested shithole that has recently come out of bankruptcy. The P D is in an especially awkward situation. Stockton does not pay as well as many smaller, nicer jurisdictions in the area. In addition, members of the Stockton P D have recently rather publically launched into homophobic tirades which have reflected poorly on them and by extension on the department.
The latest comes from one of the department chaplains. Now I grant you that the chaplains are not strictly speaking civil servants, they don’t get a paycheck from the city. This particular chaplain, Jim Reed, does have office space in the P D building and a computer provided by the city. (He is one of 42 chaplains so this may not be a huge problem, but still….)
Reed is also a member of the Stockton Leadership Foundation. This group, among other things, puts on a very nice Easter sunrise service at Weber Point in downtown Stockton. Acting in his capacity of Stockton P D chaplain he sent out an email to a bunch of local pastors inviting them to the service. He then realized that included on this list was the Reverend Terri Miller, whose congregation is mostly from the LBGT community.
When he realized this he wrote her back, saying; “…we do not feel it would be appropriate to have you sitting on the platform with the pastors as we are diametrically different in our view of scripture when it comes to homosexuality.”
Police Chief Jones immediately acted to pull Reed’s city email. A talking head from the city pointed out that the city has no direct connection with the Stockton Leadership Foundation. The Stockton police chaplaincy put Reed on (paid) administrative leave effective immediately. The Stockton Leadership Foundation promptly contacted Rev. Miller and re-invited her to the party.
Is this the end of the world? No, it’s not. Did the people involved (other than Chaplain Reed) act promptly and openly to correct the situation? Yes, it appears they did. Will it still leave a bad smell in the air? Probably it will.
1 comment:
42 Chaplains? I'll bet more than he sent out that invite to more than one gay chaplain. He just didn't know.
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