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Chapter 3

Chaplaincy & Ministry within the Police context

i) Police chaplaincy – The national picture

In terms of faith ministry chaplaincy is at the forefront of pastoral care within the
police service. It is a relatively recent phenomenon with the National Association of

Chaplains to the Police (NACP) being established in 2000 (Pole 2002:18). The NACP
outlines the role of police chaplain ‘to care for the individuals within each force and to
care for the organisation itself’ by being ‘someone to talk to’, a positive ‘presence’

and ‘praying’ for the work of the police. The primary concern of the chaplain is
therefore ‘the care of the individual’ regardless of faith or indeed lack of it, and this

impartiality as we shall see is an important principle within police chaplaincy
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arrangements (http://www.police-chaplains.org.uk/) .

One of the principle difficulties when examining ministry within the policing context is
the lack of existing research. Indeed there appear to be only two detailed studies

currently concerning chaplaincy within the UK. These are both by the Reverend
Richard Armitage, a Church of England priest and a police chaplain formerly of West

Mercia Constabulary, but currently of Wiltshire Police. The first of these reports,
Police Chaplaincy – Servant to the Service identifies a certain ambiguity within the

Christian churches concerning the police service (1996:1.8.1). However Armitage
discerns some common ground between these institutions in that both are called to
minister to ‘human failure’ and ‘brokenness’ (Wright cited in 1996:1.8.2). While the

scope of this report is vast it is worth outlining some of its most significant findings as
they relate to this work.

Firstly ‘chaplain’ is interpreted in a traditional manner with the term being identified
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explicitly with the priesthood (1996:1.3) , and as such no reference is made to any
lay ministry. Secondly police chaplaincy is shown to be an Anglican response to the

needs of the police service with 70% of chaplains being Church of England ministers

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This ethos is supported by the Senior Chaplain with Devon & Cornwall Constabulary who provides a handout
outlining that chaplains do not promote any faith, and that “faith plays little or no part in our duties”.
44 Armitage uses the metaphor of the High Priest to show the scriptural concept of chaplaincy, and demonstrates
an historical account of chaplaincy in which the chaplain is priest (1996:1.1)