Your chaplain should not be considered either a liability or "big brother", but rather a resource and a friendly contact within your daily interactions of law enforcement.

Your Chaplain is bound to confidentiality, and offers you an avenue for family and marriage balance, spiritual well being, and internal peace, as well as a needed asset and ally while interfacing with the public with serious issues and fatalities.

Command staff, deputy on scene, and telecommunicators should take initiative in contacting chaplain for critical incidents such as the following. S.O.P. mandatory call outs to the chaplain to go to scene are: 1) Fatality and subsequent Death Notification. 2) Discharge of firearm either from assailant or deputy 3) Physical force violence used against deputy. 4) Serious School incidents involving Sheriff Dept. 5) S.W.A.T. post stressful incident activity 6) Any tragedy, death, or crisis, including hospitalizations of any Kane County Sheriff personnel or their respective family members.

No one is confronted with more situations that demoralize and create emotional, mental and spiritual burdens than today's law enforcement officer. These burdens also affect the officer's family and other members of his or her department. Law enforcement agencies need specialized guidance, counseling and assistance for their officers, families and communities.

A law enforcement chaplain is a clergyman with interest and specialized training for providing pastoral care in the high powered and dangerous world of law enforcement. This pastoral care is offered to all people, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, creed, or religion. It is offered without cost or the taint of proselytizing.

The law enforcement chaplain is led in his or her own faith to be available and ready to serve those in need. The chaplain's ministry provides a source of strength to the law enforcement officers and their families, other department members, the community, and the incarcerated.

The law enforcement officer's clergyperson or religious advisor in private life, although trained in ministry, is not necessarily abreast of the particular problems and dangers faced by officers.

Chaplains listen and participate in the workplace of law enforcement officers with empathy and experience, advising calmly in the midst of turmoil and danger, and offering assistance when appropriate or requested.

Law enforcement chaplains do the following:

• Confidentially Counsel law enforcement officers (stress, marital, family, spiritual, social, etc.)
• Counsel other members of a department
• Counsel the families of law enforcement officers and other department personnel
• Visit sick or injured officers and departmental personnel in homes and hospitals
• Make death notifications
• Provide assistance to victims
• Teach officers in areas such as Stress Management, Ethics, Family Life, and Pre-retirement classes and courses
• Serve as part of a department's Crisis Response Team
• Assist at suicide incidents
• Serve as liaison with other clergy in the community
• Furnish expert responses to religious questions
• Offer prayers at special occasions such as recruit graduations, awards ceremonies, and dedication of buildings
• Serve on review boards, award boards, and other committees
• Assistance with informing and contacting local social agencies for Sheriff personnel in need of social services-elderly care, handicap family members, or programs for abuse and or rehabilitation.
• Get resources to transients and the homeless at the request of department personnel
• Provide for the spiritual needs of prisoners at the request of Kane County Sheriff personnel.

Your Chaplain, Fr. Peter Spiro, has been trained at the Illinois State Police Academy in Springfield Illinois. He was certified by the State of Illinois as a chaplain. He served 5 years as an ISP Chaplain for multiple districts, receiving a commendation for his work from I.S.P. District 15 in 2005 . He has raised funds to acquire a needed trailer and car seats to develop and promote the I.S.P./ S.P.E.C.S program. (State Police Education for Children Safety.) He is a full member of the International Conference of Police Chaplains (I.C.P.C.), and has received specialized training in Crisis Counseling, marriage counseling, P.T.S.D., substance abuse, and fatal and traumatic incidents. He has studied martial arts, and has also participated side by side with officers during in-service trainings and qualifications - both firearm and tactical. He has been called into accident and crime scenes across the state of Illinois to facilitate needs of the department and crises at hand. He has also been called to Springfield for various functions and has been afforded opportunities to open senate sessions with prayer and personal comments. Father Peter is the senior pastor at Saint Athanasios Greek Orthodox Church on 5th Avenue in Aurora and is a sworn chaplain of the Kane County Sheriffs department. You can hear inspirational messages, and read articles at his parish website www.stathanasios.org. If you have any questions, or are in need of any assistance while on patrol, or on the road of life, please contact him 24/7 at the following numbers.

Most information listed was compiled by International Conference of Police Chaplains