Louisiana Gun Bill Dies in Senate

BATON ROUGE, La., June 8 (UPI) -- "Louisiana legislation that would have allowed people to carry guns into churches as an unofficial security force died in committee Tuesday, officials said...The bill would have authorized whoever is in charge of a house of worship -- a church, synagogue, mosque or other such facility -- to name individuals who are qualified to carry the weapons, the Times-Picayune said."

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Woman Beaten to Death inside of Church

"An 80-year-old woman was found dead inside Central United Methodist Church in Wynne, Ark...Wilson was at the church Sunday to pick up disaster relief buckets to take to another church, said church members. A person or persons came in, beat her to death and took her car, a silver Grand Marquis. "

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Boy Stabbed Sunday in CHurch Parking Lot

WEST VALLEY CITY -- "A teenage boy was stabbed nearly a dozen times Sunday morning in an LDS Church parking lot.

West Valley City police Sgt. Paul Gill says the stabbing happened around 5 a.m. on the north side of the church at 3450 S. 6400 West. The 16-year-old was able to drag himself away from the scene of the crime, but collapsed a block later."

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Church Break-In Chapel Hill, NC

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — "Authorities are investigating after the Lighthouse Baptist Church at 12063 U.S. Highway 15/501 in Chapel Hill was vandalized overnight Friday...Satanic and obscene messages were sprayed on the church's walls, hymn books were destroyed and windows were broken during the break-in...Authorities said the suspect, or suspects, likely broke into the church through a back window. The church did not have an alarm system or security cameras, Hall said."

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Note the last line in the above quote: " The church did not have an alarm system or security cameras"

ICE – In Case of Emergency

After work today my cell phone began to ring. My wife looked over onto the end table where it was located and noticed that the display on the phone read, “ICE – Parent”. Not understanding what that meant she asked me to explain why I labeled the contact that way. Several years’ back there was a national initiative called “ICE”. The purpose behind this initiative was to get people to list different emergency contacts in their cell phone as “ICE Contacts”.  In the event of an emergency a responder could look at the contacts in your cell phone and know who you wanted to contact “In Case of an Emergency”.

This serves as a good reminder to those who may have forgotten about this program. If this is the first time that you have ever heard about this initiative take a few minutes right now and add the word ICE in front of one or more contacts that you would like to be used in case of an emergency. 

Churches Scramble to Meet FCC Rules on Wireless Microphones

WASHINGTON — "American churches have less than two weeks to change their wireless microphone equipment or face more than $100,000 in fines.

In January, the Federal Communications Commission mandated that anyone using wireless microphones on the 700 MHz band must stop by June 12 in order to make room for use by police, fire and emergency services.

An unlicensed person or business — which includes churches — using microphones on frequencies between 698 and 806 MHz must stop or face action by the FCC. Violators could face up to $112,500 in fines or imprisonment for continued violation, according to the FCC. Violations will be handled on a case-by-case basis."

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Over $100K Stolen for Boston Church

LOWELL, Mass.—A Tyngsborough woman once responsible for counting the collections at a Roman Catholic church has been charged with skimming more than $100,000 from the donations.

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When talking with churches abut this issue I always recommend that they use the two person rule. This rule states that you always have two people in control of church offerings at all times. From the moment it is collected to the time it gets deposited into the bank, two people should be accountable for it. As soon as the money is collected it should be counted, then stored securely until it can be deposited. Two people should initially independently count the money to insure that they obtain the same number. When the money is deposited into the bank the deposit slip should match the recorded amount of money counted by both individuals. 

Fugitive Safe Surrender at your local Church

"In mid-June, if you're wanted on a crime, you can turn yourself in to the cops in a church. Baltimore is the latest of several cities, including Washington, to embrace Operation Safe Surrender...It's open to people wanted on nonviolent misdemeanors and felonies who want to clear their name without ending up in handcuffs. In return for your surrender, prosecutors say they will do what they can, within reason, to keep you out of prison."

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According to the U.S. Marshal Service, "Fugitive Safe Surrender is a unique, creative, and highly successful, initiative that encourages persons wanted for non-violent felony or misdemeanor crimes to voluntarily surrender to the law in a faith-based or other neutral setting."

Each city has selected one or more specific churches to participate. This program only runs for a limited time. It most locations the time frame was limited to one particular week. Here is my concern with this program. As the word gets out among the criminal community the chances of convicted criminals randomly showing up your place of worship increases. Do you remember that game called "telephone" that you played as a child? The same principle of that game holds true with this initiative. Over time criminals are going to think that they can just come to any church and turn themselves in. May times these people are emotionally disturbed and confused, which results in an unsafe environment for you. The Fugitive Safe Surrender programs has procedures in place to deal with these concerns; however, if a criminal showed up to a church not partaking in the program then they may be caught off guard and left to hand the situation on their own. 

Regardless of whether or not your church is participating in Fugitive Safe Surrender you should be aware of this program incase someone shows up to your church.

Here is a list of some of the participating locations: 

Akron, Ohio                                   Camden, New Jersey
Cleveland, Ohio                             Columbia, South Carolina
Detroit, Michigan                            Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Indianapolis, Indiana                       Memphis, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee                     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix, Arizona                            Rochester, New York
Washington D.C.                            Wilmington, Delaware

Baltimore, Maryland