NBC: Alabama May Allow Church to Form Own Police Force

[Virginiá]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alabama-may-allow-church-form-own-police-force-n735811

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Have churches elsewhere in the US ever been given this authority? Also I have to say this seems blatantly unconstitutional.

[Illiniwek]

Huh wuhhhhht?? What have we let this country come to?

[Person Man]

Would this be a backdoor to Shariah?

[DrScholl]

There is no need for them to have a police force when they could just use private security. This definitely seems like something that could be used to facilitate cover-ups at the church.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

What is it they call the state? The monopolization of legitimate force? I guess it's all over now.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Not sure how this is much more of an Establishment Clause violation than, say, the Liberty University Police Department.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Sounds like private security to me.

[Mr. Reactionary]

This is a tricky issue for me. Given that some private, nonreligious schools have been granted this power, denying that same power to another school solely because it is controlled by a religious group is clearly discrimination against the religious which is unconstitutional. At the same time, the Supreme Court has held that government cannot "substitute the unilateral and absolute power of a church for the reasoned decisionmaking of a public legislative body acting on evidence and guided by standards on issues with significant economic and political implications, and thus enmesh churches in the processes of government and create the danger of political fragmentation and divisiveness on religious lines," Larkin v. Grendel's Den, 459 us at 16. If the State does allow the church to maintain some sort of sanctioned police force, it'll pretty much need to be limited to the school parts and have very narrow and well defined powers, much like the jails at Philadelphia Eagles stadium. There may be a need for a college to detain an unruly person in a cell until its convenient for the local Police to pick them up; at the same time giving too much discretionary power to private police (religious or not) is bad kool-aid.

[Virginiá]

If the State does allow the church to maintain some sort of sanctioned police force, it'll pretty much need to be limited to the school parts and have very narrow and well defined powers, much like the jails at Philadelphia Eagles stadium.

I'm just wondering why they can't have the state post some units up in that area permanently and the church can hire some private security. There really is no need to give them their own police force. Also, as I understand it, this isn't purely about a school, so I'm not sure its as applicable to other university situations as others have pointed out.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I'm just wondering why they can't have the state post some units up in that area permanently and the church can hire some private security.

If we did everything the simple way, we'd never have anything to argue about.

[Indy Texas]

What is it they call the state? The monopolization of legitimate force? I guess it's all over now.

We're entering our Lebanon/Palestine phase where each political faction/religious sect has its own armed brigades to protect their respective populations and neighborhoods.

[KingSweden]

Sounds like private security to me.

Seems simpler to just go this route IMO

[Blue3]

What's the different between them having a police force, and them having private security??

[Rjjr77]

What's the different between them having a police force, and them having private security??

The ability to arrest, and less liability.
I wouldn't be opposed to granting them a private security with a permanent police substation on campus, allowing private security to detain on property and a legitimate police officer doing the official arrest. They could absolutely reimburse the municipality for the cost of the additional officers. Some kind of public/private partnership, splitting this mess down the middle.

[Zioneer]

Y'all ever heard of the Nauvoo Legion? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauvoo_Legion

Didn't really end up as a positive for us Mormons. I doubt this church police force will be any different.

[dead0man]

I was wondering when you kids were going to get to this one.  There are good arguments and questions to be made on both sides.  Like, what's wrong with them having private security?  How is this different than a religious university with their own police force?

[dead0man]

lately?  Where the hell have you been the last 300 years? 


Also, a church going through the proper channels with a non-insane request is "full retard"?

[pbrower2a]

Colleges often have police forces separate from the communities in which the colleges operate. I'm guessing that college students are less likely to commit crimes or even be victimized.  If the church has so much as a theological seminary and has the church as effectively part of its campus, then the church might as well be understood  as having a college police department.

College students have different needs of police work (it's basically patrol for catching non-students intent on committing crimes) than the rest of us. College students are much less likely to commit crimes or even have crimes committed against them.