Behind the Badge
About an hour after the deadly shootings at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, they were ready to roll: a handful of highly qualified chaplains from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
The team is trained to respond to mass-shooting incidents like the Dec. 2, 2015 terrorist attack that killed 14 and injured nearly two-dozen — even when such incidents happen outside Orange County.
However, with his hands full and not having personally met any of his counterparts in Orange County, the chief chaplain for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department held off inviting the OCSD chaplains.
“SBSD chaplains are well trained and this was not the time to build new relationships. He didn’t know me, I didn’t know him,” said OCSD Chief Senior Chaplain Kathleen Kooiman. “Adding people you don’t know to your team is really not the best idea and we had no mutual aid protocols approved and in place.”
Chaplains and OCSD employees gather for a photo after a meeting to discuss a coordinated regional response to a major disaster or event.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
Which got Kooiman and two of her supervisors, Sgt. Dan Daniels, and Lt. Lisa Von Nordheim, to thinking:
We have no coordinated regional response plan in place. And until we do, we’re going to be spinning our wheels when the next disaster occurs.
So a couple of months ago, Kooiman, with support from Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, Homeland Security, and Emergency Management launched a series of meetings for Orange County chaplains to develop a written plan describing how they will work together during a major regional event — and then to share that plan with chaplains in surrounding counties.
After two meetings, the O.C. chaplains are close to getting something in writing to submit to police and fire chiefs for approval on a protocol for having chaplains from different agencies work together on major incidents.
“This could get very big, very fast,” Kooiman told about a dozen chaplains from various agencies, including the Anaheim, Fullerton and Huntington Beach PDs, at the group’s second meeting in early September at the Coroner Division of the OCSD.
The idea is to establish relationships — to get chaplains from around the region together — prior to a major disaster so when one happens, people are more comfortable working together and a previously approved mutual-aid plan can be carried out.
One good sign: Police and fire agencies in Orange County already follow similar protocols when it comes to sending their chaplains out on calls.
Such protocols are similar to the one explained by the Rev. Kerry Duerr, a chaplain for the Anaheim PD, at the Sept. 9 meeting.
In Anaheim, each chaplain is on call for a week and when on call, is issued a department cell phone. When an incident happens and a chaplain is needed, dispatch calls the cell phone to direct the chaplain to the scene. If it’s a major event, the responding chaplain will call in other agency chaplains.
Anaheim Police Chaplain Kerry Duerr participates in a meeting of local law enforcement chaplains.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
At the Sept. 9 meeting, the chaplains agreed that with a little education following the approval of a written protocol, police and fire agencies likely would have no problem welcoming chaplains from outside their jurisdiction when needed.
Most likely in the event of a major disaster, the OCSD will take the lead role in coordinating chaplain response. However, it could also be appropriate for the chaplains in the affected cities to coordinate chaplain response.
At future meetings, the O.C. chaplains will address how they can play a role in building a better relationship between the public and law enforcement at a time when hostility toward officers has reached a boiling point in several cities around the nation where office-involved shootings have generated controversy.
The chaplains also will discuss how they can strengthen their relationship with members of Trauma Intervention Program (TIP) — trained volunteers who are not affiliated with any faith community but who, like chaplains, respond to scenes of death and trauma to provide emotional support to survivors and witnesses so first responders can focus on their jobs.
Once the chaplains finalize a written mutual-aid protocol — standardized training will be part of it — they plan to present it to their respective O.C. police and fire agencies.
“Sheriff Hutchens and Chief Raul Nunez (of the Los Alamitos PD; Nunez also is president of the Orange County Coalition of Police and Sheriffs) have invited me to present the formation of this group at their October Orange County Chiefs of Police & Sheriff’s Association meeting. I am really grateful; it is their support that will make all these changes happen,” Kooiman said.
The chaplains’ next meeting is Oct. 7.
Grace Zambrana-Sutton, senior emergency management program coordinator for the O.C. Sheriff’s Department, listens to the discussion.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
Huntington Beach PD Chaplain Roger Wing attends the Sept. 9 meeting of local law enforcement chaplains at the Coroner Division of the OCSD.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
Gary Schade, assistant chief chaplain for the O.C. Sheriff’s Department, left, makes a point. Next to him is Sam Barela, an OCSD chaplain.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
