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Catholic Bishop’s of England & Wales. As such it understands itself in terms of a

Church rather than a police organisation (Smith 2009:27). Like the CPA the guild is a
lay movement situated within a particular secular setting and can be perceived as

performing a ministry. However the guild positions itself clearly within the hierarchical
model of church, and is motivated to provide a uniquely Catholic fellowship rather

than being concerned with the missionary outreach to other Christians that defines
the CPA. Certainly both organisations have a long history and it would seem that for
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the most part they have maintained a respectful distance from each other . From a
local perspective the CPG has no branch within the Devon and Cornwall policing
area although this will be explored as a direct result of this research.

iv) Ministry within Devon & Cornwall Constabulary

a) The questionnaire

As outlined within the introduction the questionnaire was addressed explicitly to those
police officers and staff of Christian faith via the local branch of the CPA. The full

results can be found at appendix 2 of this work, and what follows is a summary of
the key issues identified by the research.

Firstly there are the specific issues relating to chaplaincy. A considerable percentage
of those surveyed (86%) were aware of the ministry and considered it to be a useful

service (83%, A2:Fig 6). Interestingly only a third had actually had some contact with
a chaplain (A2:Fig 2), although a greater number outlined that they would be willing

to seek such support in the future (59%, Fig 4). The forms of support that chaplaincy
could offer were understood in various terms and included; prayer, being a listening

ear or otherwise someone to talk to, providing opportunities for faith conversation,
and providing encouragement in faith in times of difficulty (A2:Q5). In terms of how

the police service should use the chaplaincy ministry the most popular response
identified personal support for staff members. The respondents however also
envisioned a more public role with more than 50% identifying ‘community

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engagement’ as an area in which chaplains could be deployed (A2:Fig 7) . A
significant proportion of respondents (41%) identified that there are barriers to

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The CPA was founded in 1883 (www.cpauk.net) and the CPG in 1914 (www.catholicpoliceguil.org).
55 ‘Community engagement’ is a central theme of Neighbourhood Policing which we have previously explored in
Chapter 1. It is interesting that respondents perceive a role for chaplains in this core area of front line policing.