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work or duty time. Regular contact is made with the 56 association members, and

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others who have declared an interest in the CPA . Members are invited to share
prayer requests and also their Christian witness with their fellow Christians. The CPA

also works in partnership with the Care for the Family charity and local churches to
produce Family Resource Boards within police stations. These contain free literature

and media resources on a range of issues that may affect employees. The Adopt a
Cop scheme encourages local churches and Christians to pray for their local
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neighbourhood police and community support officers . The CPA has also been
involved at both a national and local level with the Street Pastors initiative that can
clearly be identified as an aspect of church ministry, although its focus is the pastoral

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needs of the wider community rather than the police service . The CPA has
developed a high profile within the constabulary and its outreach to those within the

police service, and indeed those the service encounters is an impressive example of
Christian evangelisation. It is likewise an outreach in faith that encounters the
secular order within the terms envisioned by Vatican II. If we can accept a view of

ministry that is both collaborative and inclusive of a lay ministerial identity then the
approach of the association can be properly defined as a ministry.

iii) The Catholic Police Guild (CPG)

The Catholic Police Guild (CPG) is a national organisation that is open to all Catholic
police officers and staff, and much like the CPA there is a National Executive

Committee that oversees local branches across the UK police forces. Although these
branches currently number only three (all based within the London area), the guild is
developing contacts within several other force areas with a view to expanding its

membership. The aims of the CPG are threefold; to provide a fraternal community to
help Catholics better understand their faith and its relevance to their ‘policing

vocation’, to help members apply ‘Christian principles in the performance of their
duties’, and to be involved in charitable activity (www.catholicpoliceguild.org.uk).

Historically the guild is linked to Westminster Cathedral with its patrons being the

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Information supplied in February 2010 by the local Deputy Branch Leader & National CPA Council member.
The local CPA has approximately another 185 people within its contact list. Nationally the CPA numbers more
than 2000 members.
52 The information regarding CPA activity within Devon & Cornwall Constabulary is located largely within internal
marketing materials within the organisation particularly the force intranet.
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Street Pastors “is an inter-denominational Church response to urban problems”, and seeks to engage
marginalised and disengaged young people on the streets by deploying trained church ministers at the street level
(www.streetpastors.co.uk).