Police Chaplains Today

I saw a friend of mine post on this topic today and realized that with all the discussion and protesting about racism, I have a story to tell that most of my friends are unfamiliar with. Even some of my Estonian friends don't have a similar story to tell of their ancestors. If Black Lives Matter then hopefully so will the lives lost to Communism during and after WW2. Russia invaded Estonia in 1940 and the immediate goal was ethnic cleansing. By the summer of 1941, thousands of Estonians had been designated as enemies of the Communist state. It is important to remember that Russia and Germany began the war as allies after agreeing to split up Europe through what was known as the "Molotov-Ribbentrop" pact. Estonia fell to the Russians until Germany decided to take it over in late 1941. What we are remembering today are the deportations of thousands in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania. This is the story of the Alkok family. My grandfather (Ado Alkok) ...

The past couple of weeks has been hard on the emotions for this old white guy. I have discovered that going on social media can be very dangerous if you do not "totally" agree with the masses that are BLM and their old and new followers. Racism has come to the forefront of everyone's conversations and that is good, except where it is not. Let me try to explain. Here in Toronto, over the past two months, citizens captured 3 separate confrontations on their cell phones between emotionally disturbed black men and cops. At the time most people were saying how well our cops handled the situations. One had a guy running after someone with a machete (in our division where I am chaplain); the second had a black man throwing rocks and smashing the windows of a police cruiser  and eventually trying to strike the female cop with the same rock; the third was just north of the city when a black man approached a cop sitting in his vehicle and attacked him, continuing to do so by stom...

With all that is happening in the world today it is often difficult to see anything good. The narrative is often controlled by the media and even social media. I work in both of the North American hotspots: policing and long term care. Not too many positive things being said about either and yet many people that I know personally, are doing a wonderful job showing what the normal is. Good people dealing with the worst situations and often without the support of others. There are many Blacks who are justified in their anger but I will not accept the way some are expressing that anger. There are many family members who are angry about long term care and how their loved ones are being treated. The system is broken in some places but not in all and yet many of the staff are feeling the brunt of the accusations. Many are so tired they can barely stand and cops are putting their lives at risk and all they get is grief. In later life I have learned to break things down to the lowest commo...

I have to try really hard to keep my feelings to myself in regards to some of the posts made by my contacts on social media. So instead of losing some friends, I felt it best to give each of them an opportunity to see the light through some truth rather than conjecture. I am a chaplain in two long term care homes here in Ontario. In case you have not been following the news, LTC has been hit very hard with the COVID-19 pandemic. As I write this blog, there are well over 200 homes with outbreaks related to this coronavirus. There are hundreds of deaths in this province alone because as we have learned, the elderly are a prime target of the disease. Now for some clarity of how these seniors contracted the virus. To put it simply, it came from outside the LTC homes, either by family members, staff or contractors. The other possibility is from residents who had been on an outing with family members or in a hospital. No resident just picked up the virus sitting in their room with no out...

As some of you reading this will know, I have been around the block a few times. In the 65 years I have lived on this planet called earth, I have seen, heard and experienced the best and the worst of society: that includes the Church. In the hour we are living in today, I am troubled by the lack of discernment by so many of my Christian friends. Understandably it can be very confusing when we hear so many voices coming at us and all trying to sound like experts. My background as a Christian and pastor is firmly entrenched in the belief that God is more powerful than any person or institution. I believe in miracles because I have experienced them in myself and others. I have not one ounce of doubt of God's ability to restore individuals and in fact I would not be a chaplain today if I only had my religion to fall back on. Some of you reading this are now confused because you think I just contradicted myself. So many out there today are trying to promote the idea that a living Go...

I am a Christian who happens to be a chaplain. Earlier in my life I was a pastor for 14 years and a missionary for another two. I have personally experienced the transforming power of God in my own life and seen it in countless others. If I was testifying in a courtroom, under oath, this statement would be 100% fact. Yet many in the world today hear these statements from Christians and would suggest we would be perjuring ourselves in a courtroom if we spoke in such a way. I use this analogy because within the mental health profession there are many who absolutely do not accept that God has any role in healing an individual. In the policing community where I am a chaplain, it is a constant battle (and that is the correct word) to be heard. Even many chaplains have taken the easy way out and accepted that drugs and psychologists are the only solution for broken individuals. They might even go so far as to approve meditation, yoga and equine therapy but not the One who transforms. The...

The loss of a famous and arguably one of the best basketball players ever to play the game, has produced something that is remarkable. People who never met the man and some that barely watch the game, have suddenly started talking about this man as if he was their best friend. I saw the video of the helicopter plummeting to the ground and bursting into flames. It was terrible and it was a shock to all of us. However, what have we learned from it? Driving in my car this morning I heard a sports radio show with reporters from various backgrounds, talk about the sadness they all personally felt. Then one of them said something that caused me to sit down and write this blog. Referring to the relationship Kobe had with his 13 year old daughter and their love of basketball, this reporter said this: "She quite possibly could have exceeded Kobe's accomplishments". Really?! You just told everyone that Kobe Bryant was one of the best players ever and now his daughter, who died wi...